Should Sofia prepare for a transport strike? This question was commented on by the chief economist of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions, Lyuboslav Kostov, in front of Nova TV. The union spoke with Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski today.
„We explained to him what the deficits are in the four companies, what the working conditions of the people are, how much money they are missing. In order to bring the average salary to Sofia, they work with 40% overtime. We explained everything to him. It seemed like he understood us. He promised to inform the Council of Ministers and when the extension budget is introduced in the National Assembly to see if anything can be done between the two readings”, said Kostov. And he added that there was also talk about BDZ, NRIC, and Bulgarian Post.
Kostov explained that there is a regulation that obliges the municipality and the state to distribute the money in a certain proportion, in a way that will reach them, because this is a public activity.
“I hope there will be a positive outcome in the next 7 days”, said Kostov. “I will not say now whether we will hold protests or strikes, because it will immediately become politicized, like last year”, he added.
Prices of goods and services
“Since June last year, prices have been skyrocketing. They raised them so much before the euro came that we brought them to European prices. But not to European wages. At the moment, even a 1-2% growth means a very large absolute value”, commented the unionist.
He added that the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions has been collecting data from different cities in the country for 9 months and giving it to the CPC and the CPC.
„We heard that they discovered a cartel in fresh milk. Now we are waiting to see what the sanctions will be. The whole thing is going very slowly. And if I had to summarize - the institutions were late. The regulators started doing some work, but very late. We entered the euro, prices rose, without a budget, without a government. The perfect storm that the middle class and people with low incomes once again suffered”, commented Kostov.
„We should have had a budget. If we had, we would have had money, capacity, and resources”, believes the unionist.