Bulgaria Steel Workers Rally as Shutdown Looms

Industry | November 11, 2009, Wednesday // 20:04|  views

Workers from Bulgaria's Kremikovtzi steel mill will rally in the streets of Sofia on Thursday and next Monday. Photo by BGNES

Workers from Bulgaria's Kremikovtzi steel mill have announced they will renew their protests on Thursday, rallying against unpaid salaries and the imminent closure of the indebted plant.

The news comes shortly after it emerged that the majority of creditors of the troubled steel-maker have rejected the rescue plan for the struggling company, meaning its businesses will be wound up and its assets – offloaded.

More than 3,000 workers are expected to gather in front of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in downtown Sofia on Thursday to call on the state to approve the recovery plan and bring to justice those, who have allegedly siphoned the company. Another rally has been scheduled for next Monday.

Earlier on Wednesday key Bulgarian ministers made it clear that bankrupt steel-making giant Kremikovtzi would most likely be liquidated, sinee 80% of Kremikovtzi’s creditors have disapproved the action plan to save the steel-maker, presented by the administrator.

The deadline for creditors’ expressions of intent concerning the resuscitation plan expired last Monday, but negotiations have since continued. Creditors and government have struggled unsuccessfully for several months to reach agreement on a plan to salvage the plant.

The sprawling communist-era behemoth near Sofia was declared insolvent in August last year and has suffered loss of production.

Workers have yet to receive BGN 56 M in unpaid salaries. Some 3 000 employees have been dismissed or have left the company, with some 3 170 staff still on the books.

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Tags: Tsvetan Bankov, Traicho Traikov, Nona Karadzhova, Council of Ministers, Kremikovtzi, steel-maker, Economy Minister, Environment Minister, bankruptcy, liquidation

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