The Union of Administrative Employees at the Podkrepa Trade Union has expressed its sharp indignation and categorical disagreement with the announced intentions of the Ministry of Finance to mechanically reduce the costs of the administration by 10%, "without any prior functional analysis, assessment of the workload, analysis of efficiency or assessment of the consequences for the functioning of state institutions". The Podkrepa Trade Union has written an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Finance, Justice and culture, to the managers of the National Social Insurance Fund, National Health Insurance Fund, National Statistical Institute, Bulgarian Statistical Institute, Bulgarian Institute of Health, Bulgarian Institute of Health, Bulgarian Institute of Health, Bulgarian Institute of Health, Bulgarian Institute of Health and Bulgarian Institute of Health.
According to the union, such an approach represents a rude and irresponsible attitude towards the state administration, towards the people working in it and towards the Bulgarian citizens who rely on the functioning of these institutions on a daily basis, Nova TV informs. “Imposing a “cap“ of layoffs without a real assessment of the activities and the need for human resources can be defined as managerial arbitrariness, which will lead to additional bleeding of administrations, which are currently working with a chronic shortage of personnel, low pay and overload”, the union also wrote in its letter.
Here is the rest of the position of the “Podkrepa” CT:
“Even more worrying are the intentions to introduce a mechanism to increase salaries by the same percentage for all administrations, regardless of the existing huge imbalances in pay levels. Such a policy will not only not solve the problem of inequalities, but will dramatically deepen it.
The same percentage increase means that departments with already high salaries will receive a significantly larger nominal increase, while employees in the lowest-paid administrations will remain permanently lagging behind and poor. This is unfair, demotivating and completely unacceptable. Instead of a policy of convergence and overcoming differences, the Ministry of Finance is proposing a mechanism that will privilege rich administrations and punish the poor.
We insist on a clear statement that state administration is not an expense that can be cut without control, but a key element of the functioning of the state. The destruction of administrative capacity will have serious consequences on the quality of public services, the control functions of the state, and trust in institutions will disappear completely.
We call on all responsible heads of structures in the state administration, in which the Union of Administrative Employees “Podkrepa“ has organizations, NOT TO COMPLY uncritically with the instructions of the Ministry of Finance and to protect the institutions they represent, as well as the people who ensure their daily functioning. Today, the protection of the administration is the protection of statehood!
We inform you that the tension among workers and employees in the state administration is extremely serious and continues to grow. People are humiliated, demotivated and placed in conditions of constant uncertainty. If this policy continues, the CAC “Podkrepa“ will take all actions permitted by law to protect the right to decent work and fair remuneration of its members, including organizing protests, effective strike actions and other forms of union pressure.
Categorically we insist:
- To rethink and stop the mechanical reduction of administrative costs by 10%;
- To carry out a real functional analysis of administrative structures;
- To develop a fair mechanism for increasing salaries, which would reduce, not increase, imbalances between individual administrations;
- To immediately begin a real dialogue with trade unions".