site.btaGovernment Gives up on Plans to Trim Social Package for Security Sector Employees

Government Gives up on Plans to Trim Social Package for Security Sector Employees

Sofia, November 8 (BTA) - The texts in the 2016 draft budget related to the social package of employees in the security sector will be removed, said Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova and the Chair of the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee Menda Stoyanova emerging from Sunday's extraordinary meeting of the social partnership council at the Interior Ministry.

In recent days Interior Ministry officers staged protests against the government's plans to reduce some perquisites available the Ministry's employees. These plans envisaged that Ministry officers would not be paid extra for their years of service. They would be entitled to a 10-wage maximum severance package instead of the current maximum of 20 wages, and the amount would not include the bonuses they get for work in specific conditions. Their paid leave entitlement would drop to 20 days a year from the current 30 days, and the holiday allowance would get reduced. The additional pay for length of service would be scrapped.

The proposals for legislative changes, which affect the Interior Ministry employees' social package, will be made following a discussion with the Ministry's trade union organizations, which will start at the beginning of next week. The same approach will be applied to the remaining structures and institutions in the security sector, Buchvarova said.

Menda Stoyanova noted that draft amendments to the Interior Ministry Act have been submitted to Parliament, which could serve as the appropriate legislative form, in which specific texts could be included, following an agreement with the trade unions, that would show the start of reforms in the Interior Ministry.

Answering a question, Buchvarova said that around 1,000 officers have submitted reports for leaving the system before these amendments were submitted, compared to around 500 after their submission, which is less than in previous years. "Not for a single moment have we given up on dialogue," she said.

Despite the decisions, police officers came out to a national protest staged in Sofia. Interior Ministry trade union leader Galentin Grozev said that the officers will stay ready to resume the protests, which will be put off next week, in order to see what will happen. In his words, the Interior Ministry officers have been lied to many times in the past, or at least feel like that.