Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria

At a meeting with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said that in four years Bulgaria's GDP grew by one-fourth, the average wage increased by 50 per cent, and the minimum pension doubled.

"Women in Bulgaria receive salaries which are an average of 14% lower than the salaries of men. This places the country within the "golden mean" among the other countries members of the EU," Ivaylo Dinev from the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) said for the BNR.

The newly registered unemployed across Bulgaria were a little under 380,000 between February 3 and the end of December 2020, according to the latest data of the specialized weekly labour market survey of the National Statistical Institute and the Employment Agency occasioned by Covid-19 pandemic. Over the same period, 235,000 people have found jobs through the labour offices.

The language barrier is one of the main problems for the recruitment of workers from outside the European Union (EU) in our country.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB/CITUB) proposes the start trilateral negotiations between business, trade unions and the government to sign a two-year national agreement by the end of the Cabinet's term, Confederation President Plamen Dimitrov said. The proposal is for the agreements to be in three areas:

In Bulgaria, 41% of workers say working time is not in line with family and social commitments. On average, for the EU this share is about 22%. This is due to the fact that the different forms of employment are not widely spread in Bulgaria.

Trade unions and employers have opposed the proposal of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) to reduce VAT on flour and flour products, milk, eggs and cheese from 20% to 5%, and of medicines to 9%, Focus News Agency reports.

Over 20,000 people did not receive their salaries regularly in 2018, often it is not just a delay. Moreover, people are working also a job without signing a contract.

A study of the European Trade Union Institute and the European Trade Union Confederation has found out that Bulgaria, Poland and Germany are the only countries in the EU where the average rate of actual wage rise during the period 2009-2016 was higher than that marked during 2001-2008, quoted by BNR.

The Confederation of the Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) will join an initiative of the UK's Communication Workers Union to provide humanitarian aid to refugees in Turkey ahead of the coming winther.