site.btaSocial Partners Discuss Minimum Wage in 2020, All Employer Organizations Except One Boycott Meeting

December 12 (BTA) - Sofia, December 12 (BTA) - The National Council for Tripartite
Cooperation (NCTC), made up by the government, employers and
trade unions, discussed the minimum wage in 2020 on Thursday.
Only one employer organization, the Union for Private Economic
Enterprise (UPEE), participated after the Association of the
Organizations of Bulgarian Employers said that employers will
boycott NCTC's meetings until the adoption of what they say are
adequate proposals to curb sick leave abuse.

Deputy Prime Minister Mariyana Nikolova, who chairs the Council,
 said that she had sent a letter to the Labour Minister in
connection with the demands for the Council to consider ways for
 paying sick leave compensation and curbing abuse. Labour and
Social Policy Minister Denitsa Sacheva said that within a month
of the gazetting of the Social Public Insurance Budget Bill
proposals will be drawn up by the relevant institutions. A
detailed review is underway and the package of measures will be
tabled to the NCTC.

Assya Goneva of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in
 Bulgaria (CITUB) asked that representatives of the social
partners are included in the working group.

On the agenda of the NCTC meeting was a draft Council of
Ministers decree which sets the minimum wage at 610 leva from
January 2020, up by 8.9 per cent from the current 560 leva. The
hourly rate will be set at 3.66 leva.

Labour Minister Denitsa Sacheva presented the proposal and said
that talks on drawing up a mechanism for increasing the minimum
wage continue. Currently the minimum wage equals 44.8 per cent
of the country's average wage. Sacheva also said that economic
growth in the first half of 2019 was driven by a 3.9 per cent
increase of labour productivity. According to National
Statistical Institute data, in the third quarter of 2019 the
average wage grew by 11.8 per cent year-on-year to 1,249 leva.

The Union for Private Economic Enterprise opposed the increase
of the minimum wage. UPEE's Lyubomir Stefanov said that Union
did not back the increase as it doesn't approve of the way the
minimum wage is set. Speaking after the meeting Deputy Prime
Minister Nikolova said that this is a principled position of the
 employer organizations who are against an administrative
increase of the minimum wage.

CITUB and the Podkrepa Labour Confederation backed the increase
of the minimum wage. CITUB said that the increase will have a
positive effect on employment, the labour market, closing the
pay gap and more revenues from taxes and social security
contributions.

CITUB expects an accelerated growth of the minimum wage by 12-15
 per cent, said Lyuben Tomev. Also, the trade union expects a
better ratio between the minimum and the average wage to nearly
50 per cent.

Vanya Grigorova of Podkrepa said that both CITUB and Podkrepa
think that the increase of the minimum wage is not enough and
that additional steps should be taken for the association of
workers so that they have a chance to agree better wages. ZH/PP



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