site.btaBulgarian National Television Employees Postpone Strike

A strike at Bulgarian National Television (BNT) over low pay has been postponed, BTA learned from the BNT management. Following a series of meetings on Tuesday, the BNT management stated that it respects the right to protest, but clarified that it must comply with the law. After a meeting with Director General Emil Koshlukov, a commitment was made to send a letter to the Minister of Finance to arrange a meeting with the strike committee and the BNT management.

At Tuesday's meeting, Koshlukov requested that if there were to be strike action and no postponement, the format of the strike action should be changed to comply with the law. The strike committee then submitted a letter announcing the postponement of the strike.

On September 19, employees of BNT said they were considering going on strike in order to protest their low pay. Anton Andonov, a member of the public television's Management Board, told BTA that this strike is an echo of the general protests that employees of the three public media outlets - BNT, the Bulgarian News Agency, and Bulgarian National Radio - held back in May for a 15% pay rise. Andonov reported that back then, the trade unions said that that they would seek some kind of continuation in the autumn. "Unfortunately, there has been no change so far," he added.