site.btaAgriculture Minister Porozhanov Signs Agreement on 18 Per Cent Pay Rise with Hail Suppression Agency

Sofia, July 3 (BTA) - Bulgarian Agriculture, Food and Forestry Minister Roumen Porozhanov, Hail Suppression Agency Executive Director Vanyo Slaveev and Federation of the Independent Trade Unions in Agriculture President Svetla Vassileva Monday signed an agreement under which the employees in the Hail Suppression Agency system will get an average pay rise of some 500 leva or 18 per cent. Monthly salaries at the Agency now net some 360 leva.

Porozhanov explained that the only legal way to raise the pay is to provide additional incentives after a performance appraisal under the Civil Servants Act. The money will be remitted within a fortnight. This system will apply until the end of this year, and as from the beginning of 2018 extra resources will be sought to achieve the 20 per cent rise demanded by the Agency employees.

With a total of 200 rocket sites in Bulgaria's territory, only 23 are now inoperative, in the area of Plovdiv, where the employees are protesting, Slaveev said. Porozhanov said that people may be relocated from other sites so that these sites, too, will resume operation. In his opinion, the protests are "steered from the outside", "politically stage-managed", and "intended to whip up tensions".

At 8 a.m. on Monday, nearly 100 employees of the hail suppression command posts in Popovitsa and Golyam Chardak (South Central Bulgaria) declared civil disobedience and switched off their rocket sites, leaving produce worth over 400 million leva unprotected despite the hail hazard that has been forecast.

According to Vassileva, 90 per cent of those manning the nine hail suppression command posts in Bulgaria are paid the minimum wage.

Vratsa, Montana, Kyustendil, Rila, Pernik, Sofia, Botevgrad, Turgovishte and Lovech were worst hit by hailstorms on the night of Sunday to Monday. More than 350 hail suppression rockets were fired, but the hailstorms caused damage, the Agency said.