The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) is determined to proceed with the May 20 protests planned by its higher education chapter despite a government decision to provide an extra BGN 39 million to boost the incomes of the academic staff at higher education institutions and BGN 12 million for the administrative staff. CITUB said in a statement on Thursday that the increase is not enough.
The news comes two days after the Council of Rectors demanded in an open letter to state authorities that the average wage for the academic staff at state-run higher education institutions should be at least 180% of the average wage in Bulgaria, and the minimum base wage should be at least 125% of the average wage in the country. The Council of Rectors accused the state of failing to honour commitments assumed in the Higher Education Act.
On Thursday, the leadership of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) issued a statement in support of the position of higher education institutions as expressed in Tuesday's open letter of the Council of Rectors. The BAS leadership described it as unacceptable for the government to not fulfill its promise to increase the incomes of the academic staff of state-run universities and research organizations and to violate the Higher Education Act. They said that amendments to the Act, adopted by the National Assembly on March 13, came as a result of the concerted efforts of the entire academic community and the trade unions and were supported by the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Assembly Committee on Education and Science.
Caretaker Minister of Education and Science Galin Tsokov told journalists that the money allocated through the March 13 amendments was not available in the 2024 state budget. A government decree was drafted to tie the incomes of the academic and administrative staff of higher education institutions to the 2023 average wage in the country. However, the Finance Ministry did not support the draft with financial reasoning, Tsokov said.
He pledged that ways will be sought to restructure the state budget to set aside the necessary resources as soon as possible.
/DS/
