site.btaTrade Unions Warn of Persistent Large Income Gap Between Working Bulgarians

Sofia, December 4 (BTA) - There continues to be a large income gap between working Bulgarians: nearly one-fourth of hired workers or around 600,000 persons receive a wage below the average in Bulgaria, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) President Plamen Dimitrov told a news conference Monday.

Out of these 600,000 persons, 403,000 work for a minimum wage and their share is the highest in the hotels and restaurants sector (38 per cent in 2017, compared to 17 per cent last year) and in construction (around 25 per cent).

The monthly wage in the capital is twice as high as that in Vidin (on the Danube), Dimitrov went on to say.

Commenting on the recently adopted 2018 State Budget Act, Dimitrov said that the CITUB's demands have been met only halfway by the Executive. He recalled that the Confederation had demanded slightly over 1 billion leva as additional resources in the budget compared to 2017, but the approved sum was just over 600 million leva, with more than half of this money to be allocated for secondary education, 160 million leva for the security sector, and the rest for state governance.

The 2018 State Budget Act envisages 100 million leva for an increase of salaries at the Defence Ministry and 55 million leva at the Interior Ministry. In Dimitrov's words, this would allow a pay raise for service members and police officers or 15 per cent for field workers but of almost 0 per cent for those with a desk job.

Commenting on the situation in the health care sector, Dimitrov said that the starting salary of a nurse should be at least some 700 leva and of a head nurse, 840 leva. The Health Ministry's budget was increased by just over 36 million leva, and a very small amount of this money is for salaries. Eight million leva are provided for salaries at the regional health inspections. The CITUB thinks that the nearly 20 million leva more allocated for emergency medical care centres will result in a 20 per cent pay raise.

An additional 26 million leva compared to 2017 are allocated to children's and school health care, where salaries will be increased by some 20 per cent from the current 600-650 leva on average. The culture sector got a serious boost with a budget increase of 30 million leva, it also transpired at the news conference.

According to the CITUB, the agriculture sector is the most neglected in next year's state budget, because the slight increase of the Agriculture, Food and Forestry Ministry's budget just compensates for the increase of the minimum wage. The worst news is that the Forestry Executive Agency will receive by 1.7 million leva less in 2018.

In the third quarter of 2017, the average monthly wage grew by 11 per cent in the private sector and by 7.9 per cent in the public sector. In some branches salaries increased by over 200 leva month-on-month. According to the CITUB President, this growth in wages is due mostly to the lack of cadres, which in some sectors reaches a two-figure percentage. Salaries are higher by 12 to 15 per cent on average where collective bargaining agreements are in place, or for 33 per cent of all hired workers, he said.