site.btaWorkers, Staff of Road Infrastructure Agency Block Road to Danube Bridge 2

Workers and staff of the Road Infrastructure Agency from all over the country closed the E-79 road in the direction of Danube Bridge 2 at the Novo Selo junction on Tuesday. Todor Kapitanov, Deputy Chairman of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), said the blockade will not be lifted until their demands are met, namely a pay rise of at least 10% this year. 

"A net salary of BGN 1,300 to 1,600 can no longer continue. We stated these demands as early as March 20, when the state budget was passed on second reading. At that time, no one paid attention to the demands of either the CITUB or the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour regarding the wage policy for all public employees," Kapitanov said.

There were also speeches by the representatives of Podkrepa at the protest - Mario Ninov, head of the strike committee of Podkrepa in Sofia, Stefan Krastev, Chairman of the Trade Union Regional Union, and Maria Dimitrova, head of the Education Trade Union.

In Kapitanov's words, some of the employees were banned from attending the protest by their direct supervisors.