site.btaTransport Workers Rally, Press for City Budget Approval
Transport workers gathered in front of the Sofia Municipality building here early Thursday to demand to have the city budget adopted. The protesters threatened to stop Sofia's public transport on Friday, if their demands are not met.
The protest under the slogan “Budget and wage increase” is organized by the Federation of Transport Trade Unions of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and by the Federation of Transport Workers of the Podkrepa Labour Confederation.
Discussing the 2025 budget is once again on the municipal council's agenda.
CITUB's Transport Unions Federation President Alexander Shopov told BTA that workers are protesting, because the lack of budget means that they are yet to be paid the wage increase that was promised on April 1. He added: "The funds have been provided by the state. They are sitting in the accounts of Sofia Municipality, but without a budget, there is no way they can reach [the workers]."
Ivan Kirilov, who heads the Transport Workers’ Federation at the Podkrepa Labour Confederation, was hopeful that a positive outcome of the vote would prevent Sofianites from having no public transport.
In the spring, public transport workers staged protests in Sofia calling for wage increases. In May, public transport was blocked for several days. On May 19, the cabinet allocated BGN 15 million to the Sofia Municipality to solve the public transport crisis in the capital, after which the protests stopped.
/NZ/
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