Trade unions protest in Sofia

A national protest of CITUB and "Podkrepa" trade unions is held in Sofia on November 11. Various organisations and industries support the protest and are part of it. The protest started from the National Assembly Square in Sofia. A procession with over 1000 cars started at noon, which will pass along the main boulevards and is expected to block traffic in the whole city.

The protest is large-scale - dissatisfied unions are demanding that the government listen to their demands and take urgent decisions - decent work and an end to low wages. The main demand is for the minimum wage to be raised from BGN 710 to BGN 850 and for this to happen from 1 January 2023.

According to the trade unions, the real inflation in Bulgaria is much more than 20% and people live in misery. The lack of a regular government negatively affects the talks, but the protesters say there is also an opportunity for the caretaker government to allocate the necessary funds.

The protest was also commented by the caretaker Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Lazar Lazarov.

"The Council of Ministers does not say and does not consider that these demands are not fair. However, a caretaker cabinet cannot make such actions that will lead to binding financial expenditures in the coming years without a clear political mandate. With the launch of the procedure for giving mandates to the parliamentary parties to form a cabinet, there is enough time to be able to react."

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva