In the name of fair pay and good working conditions, the employees of the capital's public transport are protesting, as a result of which buses, trolleybuses and trams are not running today, only the capital's metro is working. The topic was commented on in the studio of "The Day Begins" on BNT by Ivan Kirilov, chairman of the Federation of Transport Workers - KT "Podkrepa" and Andrey Zografski, municipal councilor from "Save Sofia".
Andrey Zografski described the actions of the protesters as arm-wrenching. According to him, last year salaries in public transport were increased by 15%, but this trend could not continue.
"Fair demands or arm-wrenching - both, because the profession is undoubtedly difficult, but it is an indisputable fact that in the last few years salaries have been drastically increased. Last year we found funds for a 15% increase, plus a bonus system of 300 leva for each public transport employee, which is two to three times ahead of inflation and the growth of the average salary in Sofia and the country. It is clear that this trend of 15-20% every year cannot continue when the city's revenues stagnate," said Zografski.
According to the chairman of the federation of transport workers at the "Podkrepa" Confederation of Transport Workers, Ivan Kirilov, the demands for higher salaries in the sector are fair. He again stated that the escalation among the workers occurred due to a lack of dialogue with the Sofia Municipality.
Ivan Kirilov, Chairman of the Federation of Transport Workers - CT "Podkrepa": "The demands of the transport workers are absolutely fair to them. There is no arm-wrenching. There is an inexperienced political behavior on the part of the mayor, for whose reasons all this happened. On April 14, we protested, closed three major intersections and key boulevards - for a month, not a cry, not a groan. No social dialogue. At the current, initial protest - on May 14, which we had announced by 12:00 noon, we were very much hoping that the mayor would call us, talk to us and say - we will make calculations, we will think about what options there are, we would raise the barricades and Sofia would be unblocked."
According to Kirilov, yesterday's negotiations with the municipality's leadership were very difficult, but in any case they did not lead to a result, because the proposals do not satisfy the demands of the public transport workers.