GARMENT WORKERS IN DUPNITSA HAVE NOT RECEIVED THEIR WAGES

Their employer was supposed to pay part of the amounts by the end of last week but so far no money has been transferred to the accounts of the workers.

12 acts have been issued to a clothing company in the Bulgarian town of Dupnitsa, South-West Bulgaria. The company owes more than 160,000 BGN in wages to the workers, Teodora Dicheva, a representative of the Labour inspection told BNT morning programme on 15th of March. She explained that 1,100 from a total of 3,300 garment companies in the country have been inspected.

In February, more than 100 garment workers protested over unpaid wages in Dupnitsa. They asked the national ombudsperson Maya Manolova for assistance. An agreement was reached according to which the owner of the clothing company, the Italian Luigio Caprioti, promised he would pay the full amount to the workers by the end of the year, in four installments. The first installment was supposed to arrive last Friday, 10th of March. However, the businessman requested to postpone the payment for a week.

The workers from the factory will insist on a new meeting with Bulgaria's ombudsperson if they do not get paid tomorrow, 16th of March. The labour inspection said they would sanction the employer if he did not keep his promise.

Dicheva (from the Labour inspection) said that the size of the fine was from 1,500 to 15,000 BGN and explained that although the company was in a difficult financial position, there was an enforcement procedure which the state could apply to make Luigio Caprioti pay the amounts owed.

Dicheva also explained that over the years, the inspection found that because of the tolling agreements, some clothing factories forced employees to work overtime. After completion of the contract, workers are forced to go into forced leave.

BNT has made a series of coverages on the issues in the garment industry in the country. According to a report by an NGO, in Bulgaria, the payment in the sector is lower than in China.

The investigation on the labour rights violations is on-going. So far, BNT has showen stories of workers in clothing factories who work between 12-15 per day, sometimes 6 days a week and receive the minimum wage, an illegal practice which defines the problem as exploitation of labour.

The largest number of registered clothing factories is in the South-West of Bulgaria, where BNT filmed most of the stories. Sources have provided information on more violations by employers. According to them, a common practice among employers is the owner of the clothing factory to declare insolvency and then register a new company under a different name. This way, employers avoid paying wages to their workers. Similar case was reported for a shoe- making workshop in the town of Dupnitsa last month.

Non-payment of wages is one of the most serious violations of the Labour code. Despite that, many garment workers dо not get paid and engage in legal proceedings and lawsuits which take years

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