A look at one of the big topics of the week - the strikes in the surface public transport, which ended after the budget was voted on in the Sofia Municipality. The problems in the capital's public transport are reported by bTV
The agreed 300 leva increase still cannot solve the problems in the sector.
The unemployed staff in Sofia's transport is over 200, and the hours of overtime per driver have exceeded 130 since the beginning of this year.
It all started in May, when transport workers and their unions went on a protest that grew into a weekly blockade. The reason - the lack of a salary increase in the sector.
According to data from "Stolich Elektrotransport", the gross remuneration as of April for drivers and conductors is just under 4,000 leva, for machine operators - nearly 3,800, and for workers and craftsmen 2,636 leva. All this changed with the budget voted on this week.
With 48 votes on June 26, a 300 leva increase was included in the budget with retroactive effect, starting from April.
Workplace conditions are one of the reasons for the shortage of workers in the sector.
After a question from bTV to "Stolich Elektrotransport", it became clear that out of 1,921 workers in surface urban transport, nearly 790 are drivers and conductors, and the unfilled position amounts to 207 vacancies. From there, like dominoes, other problems for workers follow.
The survey also shows that from the beginning of the year to the end of April this year, 132 hours of overtime work was accumulated by one driver in the ground public transport and nearly 9 hours by service personnel.
Against this background, after the Sofia Municipal Council adopted the budget, the gross salary of drivers after the increase amounted to 4,291 leva, and that of managers - 4,464 leva.