The Sofia Municipal Council must vote on the economic framework of transport together with the budget, in order to increase the salaries of workers in this sector. This was said by Ivan Takov, chairman of the Local Coalition "BSP for Bulgaria" and the Standing Committee on Transport and Road Safety in SOS, on the occasion of the effective transport strike that has blocked Sofia since 4:00 this morning.
"For a month, Mayor Terziev did not take any action to prevent the effective strike actions with which the unions threatened the warning protest of the transport workers. Today's strike and blockade of the city are the result of his inaction and negligence, commented Ivan Takov. - The mayor has left the municipality to move on autopilot. While the city is paralyzed by a transport strike, and in Sofia Municipality we are in a budget procedure - on May 29 we have to vote on Terziev's budget - he and his deputy for finance are going on a trip to Japan!? Obviously, the problems in Sofia do not interest them. And public transport does not interest them. And the people of Sofia do not interest them...".
Ivan Takov added that he is puzzled by the deafening silence of "Save Sofia" regarding the transport workers' strike, given the fact that until a few days ago it was their political group that managed transport in the capital through the resigned deputy mayor Iliyan Pavlov. "In fact, the fact that there has been no deputy mayor for transport for some time does not affect what is happening in this sector in the municipality. I do not notice a difference between before and now. Either way, this deputy mayor, apart from ruining the center of Sofia, has done nothing else, said the chairman of the Standing Committee on Transport and Road Safety in the Sofia Municipalities. - Currently, in the Sofia Municipality we are working without deputy mayors for construction, healthcare, transport, security... Terziev's team, which he boasted about in the election campaign, has been gone for the second year. We are marking two zero years of Terziev's rule. Therefore, today's transport strike should not surprise or astonish anyone".
Ivan Takov once again called on the mayor to finally take up his duties, to invite representatives of the trade unions to a meeting and to stop transferring problems from the sick head to the healthy one. "They need to sit down at the negotiating table with the unions and behave adequately in order to find common ground and shake hands on an acceptable increase in the salaries of transport workers for both sides", was categorical the chairman of the BSP MK group for "Bulgaria in SOS".
He also noted that the Transport and Road Safety Committee can give a real opinion in relation to the unions' requested increase in the salaries of transport workers by 400 leva, if Terziev's administration in Sofia Municipality provides them with official data from the economic framework. "I officially requested this data 6 months ago. I insisted that we be provided with different versions of this economic framework - with an increase in salaries of 100, 200, 300 and 400 leva, in order to seek possible solutions to the problem in the budget. So far we have not received anything - we do not have a single figure. And in order for there to be an increase in salaries by more than 100 leva, the economic framework of transport must be submitted for voting in the Municipal Council together with the budget of the Sofia Municipality. Because these funds for the increase must come from the budget. If this does not happen and on May 29 only the budget is submitted for voting in the Municipal Council, and the economic framework is submitted in 2-3 months, there will be no increase by more than 100 leva. Then the mayor and his deputy for finance will only shrug their shoulders and justify themselves by saying that there is no money in the budget for an increase in the salaries of transport workers.
Ivan Takov noted that transport is one of the most important systems in the city and there is currently a glaring need for personnel. "It is obvious that the problems in this sector are huge and we need to pay very serious attention to it. In addition to salaries, there is a glaring need to improve working conditions, which are disgusting at the moment," he said. - So far, I have only heard from the mayor and his deputy for finance that there was no money. But they have not shown a single figure to support this statement of theirs. I claim the opposite - there is money in the Sofia Municipality. Just from the implementation of the budget for last year, which Vasil Terziev provided us, it is clearly visible that the transitional balance of the capital program is 300 million leva. This is categorical proof that they did not cope with their own budget, which was then supported by GERB. We did not support it then, because we knew what to expect and how things would develop. We even predicted these results. I also do not accept Terziev talking about the poor working conditions in transport depots, because this is hypocrisy on his part. Only 6 months ago, at the initiative of the BSP, SOS allocated 15 million leva to improve working conditions in motor transport and electric transport. To this day, Vasil Terziev and his deputy for finance Ivan Vassilev have not allocated these funds to the companies. So, who do they work for and whose interests do they protect?!".