The National Federation of Agriculture and Forestry (NFZGS) under the Confederation of Labor (CT) "Podkrepa", supported by the Federation of Trade Union Organizations in the Forestry and Wood Processing Industry (FSORSDP) under the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KITUB), will hold a protest rally on the entire roadway of the European road E-79 near the administrative building of the Kresna municipality and at the turnoff to the village of Slivnitsa at the pedestrian walkway with a traffic light.
This was announced by the press center of the CT "Podkrepa", quoted by BTA. They indicate that the rally will be held under the slogan "Decent work - decent pay for workers in state forestry and hunting farms, so that the Forests of Bulgaria can have them".
The announcement states that the start time of the protest is 10:00 a.m., and it is announced that it will continue until 6:00 p.m. today.
The "Podkrepa" trade union indicates that workers in state forestry and hunting farms have not received a salary increase since 2023. They add that given the significant increase in the prices of basic necessities and energy sources over the past two years, wages are not enough to cover the living wage of workers and their families.
"Workers in state forestry and hunting farms are the people on the front line, along with firefighters, in extinguishing forest fires. Therefore, we insist on budget financing of public activities /such as extinguishing forest fires/, which are performed by forests with a minimum of 100 million leva for 2025 and for each subsequent year", the statement states.
The statement also states that at the end of June a meeting was held with the Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Georgi Tahov, at which he proposed an increase in wages in state forestry enterprises and divisions by 15 percent, and the distribution to be in accordance with the proposal of the members of the "Podkrepa" Confederation of Trade Unions and Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions, a 20 percent increase in wages up to 2,500 leva. and by 10 percent of salaries over 2,501 leva.
At a subsequent meeting between the directors of the six state-owned enterprises in connection with the requests made for a 30 percent increase in salaries by employees of state forestry and hunting farms, effective July 1, the directors of the state forestry enterprises proposed a 15 percent increase in October, effective July 1, 2025, and the preservation of jobs.
The National Forestry and Hunting Farms Association to the Podkrepa Labor Union surveyed employees of the state forestry and hunting farms, with 80 percent of them responding that they did not agree with the proposal and remained ready to protest, the Podkrepa Labor Union indicated. The protest rally, which will be held today, is the first step, the announcement also states.