Varna Municipality and Trade Unions to Request BGN 6.5 Million from the State for Public Transport Wage Increases

The Municipality in the coastal city of Varna, together with the local branches of the KT “Podkrepa” and CITUB (KNSB) trade unions, will submit a joint request to the state to allocate BGN 6.5 million to support wage increases for workers in the city’s public transport sector. The decision was reached during a meeting between Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, Vasil Vasilev, head of KT “Podkrepa” in Varna, and Anna Kovatcheva, regional coordinator for CITUB. This was the second meeting addressing demands for for wage increases in the sector.

Mayor Kotsev explained that the funds available from the municipal budget have already been allocated. In 2024, an agreement was signed for salary increases in the "City Transport" municipal company — 35% for drivers and 25% for other staff. He emphasized that further reallocations from Varna’s budget toward public transport would come at the cost of other vital services for the city.

photo by Municipality of Varna

According to the meeting, since March 1, 2023, drivers have received a BGN 370 increase to their base salary, and other employees a BGN 230 raise. A second increase took effect on September 1, 2023, with an additional 10% added to the already raised salaries. As a result, drivers have received a total increase of BGN 570 in one year, reportedly the highest in the country. This was confirmed by Nikolay Antonov, Director of “City Transport,” who stated that the BGN 4 million allocated in Varna’s draft 2024 budget would cover the salary increases for the current year.

CITUB said that earlier in May, they sent a formal declaration to Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, demanding the BGN 6.5 million from the state budget for Varna's public transport sector. They noted that base salaries for drivers in Varna and Sofia are comparable, yet the Ministry of Finance has already granted BGN 15 million to support wage increases for public transport workers in Sofia. Once the joint request from the Municipality and trade unions becomes official, it will be made public, the participants in the meeting said.