site.btaPodkrepa Trade Union Marks May Day with March and Concert in Sofia
The Podkrepa Confederation of Labour marked International Workers' Day with a march and a concert in central Sofia for the ninth year in a row.
This year's slogan was "Hands Off Household Electricity Regulation". More than 2.5 million Bulgarians, most of them with jobs, fall into the energy poor category, according to Podkrepa.
The organizers said working people face a range of economic and labour-related challenges, many of which stem from the fast-paced nature of modern life and the growing need for employee training and retraining. They emphasized the importance of a comprehensive set of measures to help stabilize the social security system and support the energy poor.
On April 29, the parliamentary Energy Committee adopted on first reading two draft amendments to the Energy Act that postpone the liberalization of the electricity market for household customers. The proposal envisions a two-year postponement of market liberalization for households as of July 1.
Talking about plans for reform of the pension system, Podkrepa President Dimitar Manolov told BTA: "We consider any increase in the retirement age unacceptable and will not allow it to happen. In the past 20 years, we have seen a continuous rise in the retirement age and in the requirements for pension eligibility." He said those requirements are unbearable for a large portion of Bulgarian workers.
In recent interviews, officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and Denitsa Sacheva, Chair of the parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee, spoke against an increase the retirement age. The government has six months to draft a roadmap for pension system reform.
/DD/
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