Freight Train 'Derails' Railway Strike Talks

The Bulgarian railways are starting a mass strike on Thursday, May 10. Photo by BGNES

The derailment of a freight train in southwestern Bulgaria literally derailed the last-minute talks between the government and the unions over the mass strike the railway workers plan to start on March 10, Thursday.

A car from a freight train transporting coal derailed close to the town of Dupnitsa, south of Sofia, Wednesday afternoon, interrupting immediately the anyway complicated negotiations.

The derailment caused a damage to the rail line, and the BDZ company will be transporting passengers by bus in the affected section. No one was hurt in the accident.

The syndicates announced that the talks with the government have been put off for 3 pm on Thursday, which means that the strike absolutely certainly will be launched. The unions complained that in the brief talks on Wednesday, the government did not offer anything new.

The railway unions are massively opposed to a government plan for the restructuring of the railway sector inspired by a loan agreement with the World Bank, which will lead to the layoffs of about 7 000 workers by 2014 out of some 28 000 currently employed in the Bulgarian railways.

The strike is starting off by stopping all trains on Thursday, March 10, for one hour, between 10 am and 11 am, as a warning and beginning an effective strike on March 11, from 8 am till 4 pm every day, which is to last until workers' demands are met.

The strike committees in the two state railway companies BDZ and National Company Railway Infrastructure (NKZI) received Tuesday an invitation from the government to hold final talks Wednesday afternoon, just hours before thousands of railway workers are expected to start a mass strike on Thursday, March 10.

Over 80% of the workers of NKZI and 73% of the workers of BDZ are ready to take part in the mass strike.

Up to 7000 railway workers might be laid off from the two state companies as Bulgaria is bidding to receive a badly needed loan of BGN 600 M for the sector from the World Bank – BGN 460 M for BDZ, which handles the passenger and freight traffic, and BGN 140 M for the NKZI, which is in charge of the railway infrastructure.

The situation of BDZ is particularly grave as the company's total debts amount to BGN 1 B; last week the Cabinet decided to provide the company with a state loan of BGN 140 M to cover its current debt payments.

The World Bank is ready to provide the BGN 600 M loan (for which a memorandum was signed in December 2010 in Sofia) to Bulgaria on the condition that the spending for personnel for BDZ and NKZI are reduced by 30%. The companies employ a total of 27 000 people, and up to 7 000 are expected to lose their jobs if the World Bank offer is accepted.

NKZI has already laid off 1 026 people in the past year, and will have to lay off 2 944 more by 2014, while BDZ will have to make redundant 2 800.

The syndicates, however, are extremely worried, and say that NKZI actually plans to lay off 2000 more people in the period between 2014-2016. What is more, they claim the World Bank insists that some of Bulgaria's unprofitable railway lines be shut down.

 

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