site.btaLv 15 Mln to Be Allocated from State Budget for Prison Guards' Pay Rise

Sofia, March 21 (BTA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has assumed a commitment to the allocation of extra funds for an increase of the basic monthly salaries at the Justice Ministry's Chief Directorate for Implementation of Penal Sanctions and Chief Directorate for Security and equalizing the specific service pay with the Interior Ministry, the Trade Union of Employees in Prisons in Bulgaria (TUEPB) said on Wednesday after a meeting with Borissov and Justice Minister Tsetska Tsacheva.

At a subsequent meeting at the Justice Ministry, the technological steps were specified and specific tasks were distributed with deadlines for implementation. The next meeting at the Justice Ministry will take place on March 29.

The TUEPB will consider the proposals made and will announce until the end of the week whether it will proceed with protest actions. The local protests in Lovech, Vratsa, Pazardjik and Stara Zagora, scheduled for the period until March 25, have been called off.

For several months now, prison guards have been insisting on decent pay and normal working conditions, to which they say they are entitled as citizens of a State holding the EU Council Presidency. They demand a 20 per cent pay rise and have turned down a 5 per cent increase offered by the Finance Minister.

"The State budget will allocate 15 million leva for an increase of the basic monthly salaries and for equalizing the specific service pay with the Interior Ministry," Tsacheva told journalists at the Council of Ministers later on Wednesday. Of these funds, a little over 6 million leva will go for equalizing the specific service pay, effective January 2018, she specified. Tsacheva added that the rest of the money will be distributed according to a formula proposed by the trade unions with the participation of the administration. The idea is to raise the pay of prison guards and guards escorting defendants to court proceedings.

Replying to a question, the Minister said that the most glaring difference was some 105 leva, between the remuneration of an officer at the two directorates and a junior inspector at the Interior Ministry.

At the end of last week, the trade unions accepted 6 million leva for equalizing the specific service pay, initially proposed at a joint meeting with the ministers of justice and finance, Tsacheva recalled, pointing out that this pay now stands at 190 leva in the Interior Ministry system and at 95 leva at the two Justice Ministry directorates.

Answering another question, Tsacheva said that the Prime Minister was adamant that the allocation that the Government can make is limited to job descriptions and duties that are most uncongenial and apply to officers who handle persons serving custodial sentences.