site.btaUnions Signal Nationwide Strike Potential

There is readiness for protests in at least four or five sectors of the public sector, and some of them are already beginning, Plamen Dimitrov, President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), said Thursday at a press conference.

According to him, people are not concerned about the upcoming reports assessing Bulgaria's readiness to join the eurozone on the euro, which is expected on June 4. Instead, they are expecting "a real increase in their wages".

At the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), a petition is being prepared for effective strike action, Dimitrov announced. He noted that there was recently a protest in the national public media, and currently, he believes a solution must be found so that those with sufficient public trust also receive recognition through adequate salary increases. He added that the increase needs to be "more visible and tangible".

The CITUB president highlighted tensions in the healthcare sector. "For doctors, there's been a salary increase – about 45% in basic wages, but for nurses, there is stagnation – just 16%, which is laughable, and that's why people are out in the streets," he commented. He announced that on June 2, a sectoral council will be held at the Ministry of Health. "We’ll see what happens there – whether the sectoral collective agreement will materialize, whether the starting levels of wages will be agreed upon, or whether we’ll face national protests in this area too," he added.

Regarding the public transport protests in Sofia and other cities, CITUB representatives stated that low-skilled labor should not be pitted against high-skilled labor. “Let’s not forget that beyond education, knowledge, and skills, the tight labor market dictates wage increases that are not always directly tied to qualifications,” Dimitrov commented.

The CITUB president firmly stated that the Sofia public transport protest was not political. “I don’t want to get into the fight between Borissov and Terziev – that’s not my business,” he said. “To claim that the drivers' protest was politically orchestrated is simply a lie. It was driven by people’s expectations and demands,” said Dimitrov. “If next year we don’t get the kind of pay rise we’re asking for, there will likely be similar protests again,” he predicted.

Dimitrov pointed out that in Sofia, over a period of four years, the base salary for drivers increased by less than 50%. For service and maintenance staff, the increase is about 50%, according to union data. As for Sofia’s public transport, CITUB reported that the base salary is now 2,402 BGN following a 300 BGN raise, and the average gross salary is 4,050 BGN. This is due to overtime work, which amounts to 221,000 hours per year, exceeding legal limits, the union explained.

CITUB Vice President Todor Kapitanov emphasized that overtime is prohibited by law, except in certain circumstances such as disaster prevention. “Unfortunately, however, overtime work has become the norm in Bulgaria,” he said. According to him, the legal limits for overtime are 150 hours per year, 30 hours per month, 6 hours per week, and 3 hours over two consecutive workdays.

The real growth in the average gross monthly salary from 2021 to 2025 is 28.4%. The nominal growth is 66%, CITUB also reported. While four years ago the average gross salary was 1,472 BGN, by 2025 it has reached 2,443 BGN. Dimitrov noted that the average salary in the private sector has been rising much faster than in the public sector. In 2025, the average private sector salary is 2,467 BGN, with a real increase of 32.5% since 2021. The most significant increases in recent years, according to CITUB, have been for teachers and university lecturers.