Steel Mill Workers Take to Sofia Streets Once Again

About 1,500 workers from the troubled “Kremikovtzi” steel mill gathered once again Thursday on a protest rally in front of the Economy Ministry building demanding the State finds a bidder for the ailing plant. Photo by BGNES

The workers from Bulgaria's troubled steel mill "Kremikovtzi" are protesting Thursday for the second day in a row.

About 1 500 metal-workers gathered in front of the "Alexander Nevski" cathedral in downtown Sofia and marched to the Economy Ministry building. The procession ended in front of the Bulgarian Parliament building.

The workers demand the State finds a bidder for the mill and their overdue salaries they say have not been paid since November.

Representatives of the workers have been accepted by the Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament, Georgi Pirinski. The talks lasted about 40 minutes and were qualified by the trade union's leader as positive. Pirinski had made the commitment to call, as soon as possible, a meeting between union representatives, Members of the Parliament, and the Economy Minister, Petar Dimitrov, to discuss the mill's future.

The workers social requests as well as the eventual investor had also been discussed. It was revealed Wednesday that the Brazilian metallurgy giant, CSN, had presented, after all, a contract draft for the mill's coking plant. The unions insist that everything now depends on the State's swift action.

In the mean time, the demonstrators outside collected about 1 000 signatures for a statement about their human rights violation.

Economy Minister, Petar Dimitrov, announced Wednesday that Bulgargaz will not halt gas supply to "Kremikovtzi" as previously announced, because the State was still searching for a strategic investor.

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