Bulgarian Railway Strike Goes into 10th Day

BDZ is estimated to be losing EUR 60,000 a day due to the strike. Photo by BGNES

The all out strike by employees of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) company is continuing Saturday, the tenth day since it kicked off November 24.

Railway workers are protesting against cabinet plans to lay off 2,000 of them in a bid to financially straighten the company, which has fallen deep in depth, with amounts owned estimated at more than BGN 770 M, with about a third overdue.

Friday a second round of negotiations started between representatives of BDZ trade unions and the cabinet, which have achieved some progress towards a mutually acceptable solution, including a new collective bargaining agreement.

Workers nevertheless have vowed to persist in the strike and stop trains from traveling, until an actual solution is in place.

In the days since November 24, on average some 75-80% of Bulgarian trains did not run their courses.

In the meanwhile, Bulgarian Minister of Transport Ivaylo Moskovski has claimed he has reached a slight concession on the part of German BDZ creditor KfW.

Apart from the shedding of employers, the Bulgarian state has voiced intentions to privatize the "Freight Transportation" unit of the Bulgarian State Railways company.

This has met widespread criticism, as the BDZ "Freight Transportation" unit actually makes sizeable net profits, in contrast with the losing BDZ "Passenger Transportation" unit.

Critics have argued that cutting off the winning unit from the Bulgarian State Railways will worsen the company's financial problems and force the state to drastically subsidize it or cut it down.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!