2024-07-16 04:49:24
The KNSB wants the next year’s budget to include a 10 percent increase in all wages, which, according to the unions’ calculations, means BGN 1.8 billion more funds for wages. KNSB president Plamen Dimitrov told journalists in Kardzhali, adding that salaries in the education sector should be at least 130 percent of the average salary for the country.
He specified that there had already been a preliminary conversation with the Minister of Finance on the subject. “We have informed the Minister of Finance of what we need, which is first to complete the 2024 budget according to the plan and to include the payments that are missing, namely BGN 184 million for higher education,” explained Dimitrov, adding that he received the assurance that the funds will be available. According to him, the budget for the current year lacks 250 million for the mine “Maritsa Iztok”.
In terms of income, the unions want the country to start calculating the so-called a living wage, which defines the income needed for a household to meet its basic needs, and requests for income increases build on that basis.
As for the private sector, Plamen Dimitrov pointed out that the trade union is taking into account what has been done over the years in the direction of compensating the levels of inflation in labor remuneration, but they will also insist on a real increase in wages.
The union reported a significant downward trend in orders in the industry over the past 12 months, reducing employment by about 5 to 7 percent.
“From memory I will say at the moment, about 70-80 thousand are directly employed in the industry, which means that between 4 and 5 thousand people from the middle of last year until now have left the industry in one way or another, the main reason being the decline of orders,” said Dimitrov. According to him, the problem also exists in enterprises from the sector in the Kardzhali region, where there are already single layoffs. He predicts the danger that more people from the sector will remain unemployed, which is why the union is considering proposing as a legal measure in enterprises with more than a 20 percent drop in orders to have support such as the 60/40 measure during covid. The idea is to help the sector in this way to prevent layoffs, writes BTA.
“Speaking of a fair transition in Bulgaria, in my opinion, the people who are currently exempt from industry are more than those who are exempt from energy, which is very worrying and it is high time that the state pay attention and see what is happening in our industry on the basis of what will be renegotiated at the moment in Europe,” said KNSB vice-president Ognyan Atanasov.
The leadership of KNSB in the person of President Plamen Dimitrov and Vice Presidents Valentin Valchev, Daniela Alexieva, Ognyan Atanasov and Todor Kapitanov were in Kardzhali as part of the tour around the country “For higher salaries”. Tomorrow, the leadership of the trade union will visit Smolyan.