Once upon a time, the fight was for an 8-hour workday. Today, sometimes it still is. The aspiration was for higher pay. Today, it still is. For years now, we have had to convince leaders and employers that work should get us out of the poverty trap, not leave us there. That income should provide a decent life, and minimum wages should be equal to the living wage, which covers basic needs. And we are far from it. This was stated by the president of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions on May Day, BTA specifies.
Plamen Dimitrov's congratulations on the holiday were published on the website of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions.
The minimum wage in Bulgaria is still only 56.5% of the living wage. We insist that it be brought up to par, and that our country fully adopts the Directive on adequate minimum wages and the promotion of collective bargaining. We also insist that the voice of public sector workers, who did not receive an adequate increase in their salaries with Budget 2025, be heard, Plamen Dimitrov also points out.
"We stand behind everyone who has fair demands – for their income, for the provision of safe working conditions. Behind everyone who is ready to stand up for their rights!", adds Plamen Dimitrov.
"Happy Labor Day, brothers and sisters! Happy holiday to all who contribute with their work every day – with their knowledge, skills, efforts and time, to the development of society and the well-being of their families", says the president of the CITUB.
On this date every year, we remind ourselves that the fight for workers' rights requires cohesion, solidarity, intransigence, determination and will. That 300 thousand, as many as were the participants in the first major strike in the USA – in Chicago on May 1, 1886, are a collective force that can give impetus to historical changes. That these changes do not freeze in time, but require constant dedication and efforts to respond to all modern challenges – of the global geopolitical processes that are reshaping the business map of the world, of the crises that come one after another, of the technological transformations and the invasion of artificial intelligence, which are changing jobs with incredible speed. All this is on the shoulders of working people, adds Plamen Dimitrov.
Our battles continue! Our cause is just - a decent life, decent income and working conditions, declares the president of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions.