The union organizations of Podkrepa Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CITUB) at Maritsa East Mines EAD do not agree with the proposed territorial plan for the region of Stara Zagora, representatives of the unions stated during a press conference at the BTA press club in Stara Zagora.
"The ambiguity that exists in the proposed projects for territorial plans should be discussed and they should be completely renegotiated," explained the Podkrepa leader at Maritsa East Mines, Biser Binev. He pointed out that on Thursday, Energy Minister Rumen Radev was on an official visit to Maritsa East Mines and during the talks no consensus was reached.
"What is set in the proposed Territorial Plan is almost nothing different from the old one except that in 2026, 12,500 workers would be redistributed to other industries and other enterprises. Now these figures are set for 2030. Accordingly in 2038, they will be affected in this aspect," Binev stressed, adding that there are also some changes in the current plan, foreseen some time ago under previous governments.
"Again, batteries and hydrogen are coming back, but all these things for us are wishful thinking, said Binev, called "shocking" the fact that the proposed plan states that in "2025 the complex should produce 8 terawatt hours, which is 13.6 million tonnes of coal, and in 2030 this number should be 2 terawatt hours, which is 3.4 million tonnes of coal". For comparison, in 2022, the complex produced 22 terawatt hours of electricity or 34.5 million tonnes of coal, he added.
Binev pointed out that during the meeting the representatives of the trade unions in the complex handed Energy Minister Radev a declaration in which they expressed their disagreement with regard to the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience and the set parameters for closing capacities by 2026. They insist that "the government should immediately start negotiations with the EC on the acquisition of a capacity mechanism" and that "the Recovery and Resilience Plan should not be sent to the EC with the attached territorial plans for a just transition of the coal regions until the first proposals are implemented and are not revised and reconciled". The trade unionists set a deadline of September 15 to receive answers to their demands. "If they do not comply with them, we will take massive protest actions," Binev explained.
"We are not against the so-called "green transition", but we want it to be fair and smooth. This transition should raise the standard of living, it should bring peace to families," said Georgi Gospodinov, chairman of the CITUB trade union organization to Maritsa East Mines. He explained that the parameters set in this way doom the workers to "additional deprivation and poverty and uncertainty about their future".
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