Between 125 and 200 million leva are needed to increase wages by 15 percent in 7-8 risky sectors. If this does not happen, the protests will radicalize, and the demands will grow. This was stated by the president of CITUB Plamen Dimitrov in Blagoevgrad, where the first trade union club for meetings and consultations in the country was opened.
The sectors in which there is a risk of the protests escalating due to low wages are in healthcare - psychiatry, dispensaries, school healthcare and emergency care, in several agencies at the Ministry of Agriculture, in "Bulgarian Posts", in the "Road Infrastructure" Agency and DAI, as well as in public transport, where there will be strikes and blockades next Monday, said Plamen Dimitrov, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio and added:
"From the morning in Sofia, Varna, Ruse there will be blocked intersections and protests by public transport workers who want a 15% increase, and they have 5. The minimum increases must be made, if they don't, we will have strike actions and people will want much more".
The President of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions also indicated where these 150-200 million leva can be secured:
"It's not that much money against the backdrop of 97 billion in state spending. Of the 15 billion capital expenditures, the state will most likely not spend even 5 billion".
The Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions unreservedly supports the request of the three public national media for a 15 percent increase in salaries, which requires a modest 10 million leva. The main argument, according to Plamen Dimitrov, is that there are no other institutions in Bulgaria with such high trust in society:
"Our general demands for the media - an average increase of about 15%, that's what everyone wants, that's what we want too. The national media are the most trusted. That is, we actually learn the truth from them. From this point of view, we are obliged as citizens, not only as trade unionists, to bring the national media to the forefront, and that's what we are doing right now".