Bulgaria's Troubled Lead-Zinc Plant Workers Stage Road Block

Workers of the Lead and Zinc Complex in Kardzhali are seen collecting signatures for a petition in their support. Photo by BNR

The workers of the troubled Bulgarian Lead and Zinc Complex (LZC; OTZK) in Bulgaria's Kardzhali are renewing protests Thursday over their long-overdue salaries.

The protests come on heels of news that the negotiations to sell the Complex have reached a dead-end.

The workers have blocked Thursday morning the key intersection in the city of Kardzhali, leading to the exit for the road to the city of Haskovo. They also threaten to renew the hunger strikes.

Scores of them have already left the Complex, but those remaining demand a new owner, while others are calling for declaring it bankrupt. All, however, insist on a jail sentence for owners and managers who are responsible for their hardship.

On Wednesday, the Confederation of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates (KNSB), a trade union, has moved to resettle the workers with KNSB chief Plamen Dimitrov sending lists of names of OTZK workers to the owner of KCM 2000 AD – Plovdiv Nikola Dobrev, and the owner of Gorubso Madan AD Nikolay Valkanov, both of them producers of nonferrous metals.