site.btaSocial Workers Stage One-Hour Warning Strike

Social Workers Stage One-Hour Warning Strike

Sofia, July 9 (BTA) - Employees of 20 out of a total of 147 social assistance directorates joined a one-hour effective warning strike on Thursday to press their demands for a 20 per cent pay rise as of July 1 and for better working conditions. The protest received token support from employees of other agencies of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

Eftim Bouyukliev, who chairs the administrative workers' section of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour, told BTA that if the demands are not met, there will be only two options left: social workers will either go on indefinite strike, or they will quit their jobs en masse.

The 4,700 employees of the social assistance directorates earn an average monthly wage of just 646 leva, and many of them do not get much more than the minimum wage, which was increased from 360 to 380 leva as of July 1. Therefore, they are considering taking other jobs which are better paid, Bouyukliev said. He noted that the average monthly wage of civil servants in 2014 was 981 leva. The trade unions insist that the pay rates for social workers should be similar to those given to other civil servants.

On Wednesday, Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivailo Kalfin said social workers deserve higher pay, but a 20 per cent pay rise is unfeasible at this point. "I might be able to increase their wages by 20 per cent if I made some workers redundant, but I do not think this is possible, because these are officers who should reach the people even in the remotest and smallest communities," Kalfin said. He noted that there have been no redundancies in the social affairs sector, although the 2015 National Budget Act requires all government departments to reduce their expenses by 10 per cent.

Kalfin said he has approached Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov over the low pay of social workers, but he cannot promise anything at this point.