The government approved the draft of the state budget for 2023 which has to be endorsed by the National Assembly by the end of July. However, its basic parameters dashed the hopes of any pay raises, particularly in key sectors that are underfinanced. According to the budget put forward by the finance minister, the minimum wage is to remain at last year’s level – EUR 390 per month, against the background of an inflation rate exceeding 30% for essential goods.

Despite the demands by the trade unions that there is enough money and the minimum monthly salary can be upped immediately by no less than EUR 30, the government and employers are refusing to agree to the demands for a raise. According to Podkrepa Confederation of Labour, the budget proposed does not include an incomes policy, and the claims that the one-time raise of the minimum monthly salary in January this year means the commitment with regard to the lowest-income groups of workers has been fulfilled, is unacceptable:

“The current government obviously has no intention of upgrading the minimum incomes in the country,” said Vanya Grigorova, Podkrepa Confederation of Labour economic advisor in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. “That will deal a fatal blow to the purchasing power of the poorest workers in Bulgaria. When last year we were commenting on the need to update the minimum pay, there was election campaigning going on, and Assen Vassilev said that this was a priority for the ruling party We Continue the Change, and that as of January this year, the minimum monthly salary would be EUR 450. But when he got to be finance minister he forgot all about it. This is a 6-month budget, but workers in Bulgaria have been growing poorer over the past year and six months. We have been criticized multiple times that we only talk about inflation rates for food, but if someone has a monthly salary of EUR 400, they spend most of their money on food.”

Vanya Grigorova commented further that with the doubling of the prices of essential foods, a 10% rise of the minimum salary can never be enough. For no other reason than to keep the budget deficit from exceeding 3%, compromises are being made with key structures like the National Social Security Institute, where billions are being handled, money is being allocated for unemployment, for pensions etc., for the Bulgarian citizens.  

“They are people with expertise,” Vanya Grigorova says. “They cannot be replaced, yet the government is making a mockery of their work. And there are many more people whose work has been disrespected for years by the governments – whoever they may have been at the time. (Finance Minister) Assen Vassilev said a rise in salaries in health care – the salaries of doctors, nurses, etc. – was guaranteed. But that is not true, and all of these lies must be exposed. They are downplaying the budget with the excuse that it is only a 6-month budget. But during these months the Bulgarian citizens are going to have to work. The Bulgarian enterprises, which are going to have 100% of their dividends taken away, should have some kind of security, just as private companies want security. But, in reality they are going to be drained of their blood.”

There are many structures in strike readiness, among them firefighters and police. A one-hour warning strike has already been staged at the National Social Security Institute, and discussions are currently underway on how and when an open-ended strike should be called. And when the public feel the effects they will put pressure on the government. “They are not immune to accountability, this kind of control should be applied, and it includes strikes or going out into the streets,” says Vanya Grigorova.

The other leading trade union, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) is inclined to support the 6-month state budget, but under certain conditions, and is also in strike readiness, even though we are in mid-summer. Todor Kapitanov from the CITUB enumerates the sectors, mostly budget-financed, in which the pay has been frozen despite the inflation:

“These are the people working at the Bulgarian National radio, at the National Social Security Institute, the National Revenue Agency, some sectors in the sphere of agriculture, the Hail Suppression Agency, the Agriculture Academy. And of course, the lack of funding in culture should not be overlooked either. The people working in these systems are at the end of their tether, and this is affecting their professional and their personal living standards. That is why the people employed in these underfinanced sectors are ready to go on strike. During the past few months they have been saying that this cannot go on, and they are now ready, during the voting of the budget, to be firm in their actions, and to come into the streets to defend their rights.”

Translated from the Bulgarian and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: BTA, archive