Employees of the two Czech-based CEZ Bulgaria power plants scored a small but significant victory. On April 11, an agreement was signed to end the strike that had started two days earlier between with the company's management and the strike committee formed by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Confederation of Labour `Podkrepa'. Over three-quarters of all employees had joined the strike. According to the agreement, CEZ agreed to increase workers' average wages, back-dated to January 1 2008, by 22.6%. Basic wages would be increased in 2008 by 24.97% and by a 6% wage bonus, reaching 698 leva (Euro 356) per month, and in 2009 with the 2008 inflation rate plus a minimum of 2%points, and a 12% wage bonus.CEZ employees earning less than the company average will receive higher salary increases. Initially, in early March, CEZ management offered a 20% pay rise. Management claimed that the originally envisaged cut of 400 staff would actually cover less than 200 CEZ employees. Individuals who are laid off will receive four to 14 months gross pay.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 4/2008; http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2008/04/articles/bg0804029i.htm)
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Bulgarian trade unions threatened to call a general strike in spring if the country's parliament passes a controversial amendment bill that would severely curtail the unions' rights to strike. The threat came from the chairman of KNSB, one of Bulgaria's two union confederations after a meeting with labour ministry officials and representatives of the Socialist party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition, and was supported by the chairman of the other major confederation, Podkrepa.
Te amendments, authored by four Socialist MPs, would severely curtail unions' power to call strikes, requiring all labour disputes to go through an arbitration court with the labour ministry. The two confederations are demanding new legislation to establish the right to bargain collectively and to go on strike in compliance to international labour standards.
(English: Watson Wyatt Data Services, New Industrial Relations Europe, 1/2008; http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=89185)