ABOUT 1,500 EMPLOYEES OF BULGARIA’S STATE RAILWAYS TO FACE LAY-OFF

About 1,500 employees of Bulgaria’s state railways (BDZ) may be laid off, the director of the company, Vladimir Vladimirov, told BNT on 16th of December. The measure becomes necessary, because the state subsidy for BDZ was reduced by 40 million BGN.

Vladimirov added that before the staff reduction was undertaken, there would be at least 7 months of negotiations with the trade unions and indemnities would be paid at the amount of 4-5 wages. The Executive Director of BDZ Holding said that no increase of the prices of train tickets for 2015 were envisaged. Probably no new trains will be purchased. Currently, BDZ’s liabilities to creditors amount to 370 million BGN.