site.btaNational Television Employees Consider Going on Strike over Low Salaries

Some employees of Bulgarian National Television (BNT) are considering going on strike in order to protest their low pay. A meeting will be held on September 23 between the television management and the strike committee to see how things will unfold and to what extent and in what way their demands can be met, Anton Andonov, a member of the public television's Management Board, told BTA on Friday.

Andonov said: "Unfortunately, in recent years, the activities of BNT, as well as most public media, have been underfunded, and the salaries of our employees are indeed not adequate for the market. What we, as management, will try to do is to ensure that the quality of information and television products does not suffer in any way if a final decision is made to go on strike."

BNT employees' main demand is higher salaries. Andonov noted that this strike is an echo of the general protests that employees of the three public media outlets—BNT, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR)—held in back in May.

Andonov reported that back in May, the trade unions said that that they would seek some kind of continuation in the autumn. He added: "Unfortunately, there has been no change so far."

On May 15, employees of BTA, BNR, and BNT protested, demanding a minimum 15% pay increase. The protest was held under the slogan “Work in the media has value.”