In the program “The Live Day“ on NOVA NEWS, the chief economist of the CITUB Lyuboslav Kostov announced that the union is starting preparations for protest actions. The reason is the entry into force of an extended budget law, which freezes the incomes of over half a million workers in the public sector.
According to Kostov, the state is currently in a state of “free fall“ - with rising prices, it remains without a new budget. He accused employers and political forces of hypocrisy. “We negotiated with business all autumn and reached a consensus not to raise taxes and social security contributions in exchange for at least a 10% increase in wages. In the end, the government and parliament looked after their narrow party interests and resigned 5 days before adopting the budget“, he said.
►The main problems, according to the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions (CITUB), caused by the extension law:
Salaries: The salaries of “Bulgarian Posts“, BDZ, National Social Insurance Institution, teachers and nurses remain unchanged. The planned 10% wage increase in the public sector has been blocked.
Social payments: There will be no increase in maternity and child allowances for the second year.
Investments: The infrastructure projects of the municipalities included in the capital program have been suspended.
„The public sector employs 600,000 people, of whom only 115,000 are in administration. These people were left with a 3.7% increase - which is the cumulative inflation rate according to the National Statistics Institute. This is an insult, given that in the private sector wages are updated every three months“, Kostov emphasized.
He explained that according to Art. 52 of the Public Finance Act, in the absence of a budget, the state can only spend up to the amount of revenue for the previous month. Since January and February are traditionally the months with the lowest revenues, the state will not be able to help economic processes exactly when people need it most.
„The tension is great. People will feel it at the end of the month, when they receive their salaries in euros, see their electricity bills and realize that there is no increase. Our strike committees are already meeting“. According to him, the protests are expected to be at the end of January or the beginning of February“.
He specified that the goal of the protest is to „pressure“ the institutions to immediately adopt a regular budget in order to avoid a situation in which the country will have a new financial plan only in September.