Bulgaria

Throughout 2018, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) registered several cases of employers’ refusal to negotiate. For example, the director of the RIM Company, in Montana, repeatedly refused to even engage in collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
with the union and justified his refusal by “a lack of funds”. Similarly, in the coal mining sector, employers systematically refused to initiate negotiations with unions.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) reported that local authorities have prevented unions from organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. protests using municipal orders to forbid the closing of the streets to hold CITUB rallies. In their order, the municipal authorities allowed the protests to take place only on the sidewalks of the planned streets.

According to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), the director of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra engaged in union-busting activities by appointing a group of selected employees and pushing for their election to the Orchestra union board. These pro-management employees have engaged in a defamatory campaign against the union leaders, pretexting unethical practices and abuses of union influence. They also held a general meeting to call for the replacement of the union leadership. These practices are a clear attempt to destabilise the trade union leadership and disrupt all trade union activities in the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) reports many cases of intimidation of and discrimination against its members. For example, in a pre-school establishment, a director threatened to “break” the first-level union when union members asked for better remuneration conditions and put pressure on CITUB union members to disavow their membership, including a teacher who was forced to resign. In a city museum, the director attempted to intimidate CITUB members by removing the chairman of the union branch. After heavy mobilisation from CITUB leaders and members and numerous appeals to the mayor of the city, the union chairman was finally reinstated.

The management of Arkus Entreprise has set up a union in the company to undermine the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Confederation of Labour PODKREPA and has actively engaged in pressuring workers to join its union. The company also refuses to pay salary bonuses and additional benefits to CITUB and PODKREPA members all the while favouring members of this illegal union. Moreover, PODKREPA reports that Arkus Entreprise does not apply the check-off check-off A system where union dues and fees are automatically deducted by the employer from the workers’ paychecks and then remitted to the respective union. agreement and keeps union dues.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) reports that employers regularly decide to apply collective agreements negotiated with unions on behalf of their own members to all workers. The extension of collective agreements without the consent of unions is in clear violation of the Labour Code.

On 10 January 2018 a billboard paid for by the Confederation of Labour PODKREPA was taken down by the authorities. The message read: “Employees of the Ministry of Interior are paid less than their colleagues in the EU. Their basic salary is only EUR 340 per month.” This billboard was placed on an authorised advertising space on the road close to the building entry for official guests during the opening ceremony for the EU Bulgarian Presidency. The authorities did not provide justification for this ban.

The Bulgarian teachers’ federation wrote to the Ministry of Education, the Discrimination Commission and the Regional Education Inspectorate in December 2015 complaining that teachers in a school in Ruse were coerced into signing a statement that they would no longer take part in trade union activities. The Municipal authorities have promised to write to the school directors about avoiding discrimination.

A transport union federation has filed a law suit in June 2016 with the Discrimination Commission, following the harassment of its leader. The harassment included keeping him on shifts that only gave him the basic legal rate of pay, with no opportunities to earn overtime pay.

The head of the union representing workers in a museum in a city in South Bulgaria was removed from his post on 25 June 2015. The proper legal procedures were not respected, and after pressure from the trade union federation, the Director of the museum was dismissed and the union leader reinstated.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) reported that during 2015 there were five cases of employers refusing to negotiate collective agreements in the education system (at the secondary and pre-school level), in state administration, in the electricity sector, and in the energy sector. Cases were also reported at the enterprise level, in light industry and the food processing industry.

There has been a fall in the number of employers signing collective agreements, and in some cases employers do not implement the agreements signed, such us in the energy sector, light industry and education.

In October 2015, a grass roots union in a telecommunications company in the Pernik/Kujstendil region appealed to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) for its support, after facing constant persecution from management. During an evaluation session that could lead to his possible promotion the union leader was asked if he would cease trade union activities if promoted. Both the union leader and members were the subject of verbal attacks, the union leader’s activities were monitored, and information requested by the union was withheld.

In March 2015 workers at a refuse collection and processing company in the city of Vidin went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike over the non-payment of their wages for over eight consecutive months. Of a total of 114 workers, 103 joined the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike . The employer began to dismiss all those involved in the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike . The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) legal experts stepped in and took legal action against the company, appealing against the unfair dismissal of the strikers. All 70 law suits filed were resolved in the workers’ favour, and the employer was ordered to pay the wages owed, and compensation.

A fire fighters’ union formed at the end of 2014, and affiliated to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB), is struggling to win legal recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. . Changes in the law in January 2015 meant that workers in the fire service, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, no longer had the right to join a national union confederation, and the legitimacy of the fire fighters union was called into question. The CITUB has written to the National Ombudsman, the Ministry of Interior and parliamentary groups, appealing for the legitimacy of the union to be recognised, and a case is pending before the Constitutional Court.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) reported that employers refuse to engage in wage bargaining and prolong negotiation in bad faith. Wage negotiations are often excluded from recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. agreement and employers push unions to fix wages through internal pay rules instead. In the chemical industry, employers have delayed the conclusion of a collective agreement for years and workers are still not covered by a collective agreement.

Workers at the company Remotex-Radnevo EAD protested against salary arrears which had pushed many workers into poverty in October 2013. During the protest action 5 workers were arrested on the accusation that they blocked a road leading to the company. They were released but condemned to pay fines.

In response to a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , the Federation of the Railway Workers has been denied access to its offices by “Holding BDZ”. Subsequently, union property, including the Chair’s telephone, was seized by the employer without its consent.

“Toploficatzija – Sofia” SA failed to renegotiate a collective agreement in good faith with the Independent Trade Union Organisation of Energy Workers. The Chair of the union at the enterprise has been dismissed in order to exclude her from the collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
process. In addition, the Chair of the union has been denied access to the company premises for meetings with union members.

The company “Brikel” has been refusing to bargain with the Independent Trade Union Organisation of Energy Workers and imposes the payment of an association fee. This issue has been raised with the labour inspectorate.

Organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. is especially difficult at new sites of multinational companies. Although some workers in the more recently opened establishments of the Metro commerce chain and plants of American Standard have joined trade unions, it is still very difficult to obtain real union recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. . Multinationals also rarely respect applicable sector-level collective agreements.

In recent years, unions have reported frequent cases of discrimination and harassment against trade union activists and members, who have been relocated, downgraded or sacked. This has created fear and insecurity, often making workers reluctant to join a trade union. The legal proceedings for the reinstatement of dismissed workers can take a long time, sometimes years, while the sanctions against employers for unfair dismissal are too weak to be dissuasive. In the private sector, some employers have simply banned trade union membership within their enterprise and have forced newly employed workers to sign declarations that they will not establish or join trade unions. Temporary employment contracts are increasingly being used to prevent workers from demanding their rights.