Bulgarian trade unions withdraw from the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria and Confederation of Labour 'Podkrepa' will withdraw from the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation. The Tripartite Council will suspend its operation in its hitherto form, stated yesterday the chairmen of the two trade unions, Plamen Dimitrov and Konstantin Trenchev. "The reasons for our discontent are clear. Our agreement with the GERB government on the retirement age increase was breached without any excuse. Any further dialogue will be pointless. Another reason for our extreme decision is the planned revocation of classes applied to the pensionable lenght of service," explained Plamen Dimitrov. According to his conclusion, the two unions have detected an unjustified violation of labor, social and trade union rights in Bulgaria. It has become quite obvious over the recent weeks. "The final manifestation of this indecent behavior were the actions of Finance Minister Simeon Djankov," summarised the leader of the Confederation.

"The reform has its flaws. The dramatic decrease in social security contributions led to the current deplorable state of the National Social Security Institute. The final result could be foreseen. Analyses show that neither the saved funds amounting to BGN 51 mln, which were mentioned by Deputy Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, nor the "accelerated reforms" of the pension increase for 16,000 people could justify the grave and uncoordinated violation of the negotiated retirement system and the national agreement, which was signed by the Prime Minister and the representative organizations of employers and employees," reckoned Plamen Dimitrov. In the coming days, he promised to explain to the GERB government the retirement pay schemes of the US, UK, Germany and France, where specific retirement coefficients are calculated based on the length of pensionable service. "We will continue to defend the additional retirement benefits based on the current form of the coefficiency for the length of pensionable service. In fact, in 2008 we changed and increased them. As a result, they comply with their objective to encourage the employees to remain in the same profession, in the same branch so as to accumulate new qualifications, skills and experience," was explicit the CITUB leader.

According to Doctor Konstantin Trenchev, Chairman of CL "Podkrepa", the last retirement age amendments projected by the GERB government are disturbing. We will demand a personal meeting with the Prime Minister because he should be responsible for the actions of his team, added Konstantin Trenchev.

As of tomorrow, both syndicates are organizing a petition across the whole country. Thus, they will consult their structures whether they are willing to participate in a one-day national strike. The results of the petition and the referendum of CITUB and CL "Podkrepa" will be announced on November 30, when the two unions plan to stage a joint national demonstration, march and rally in front of the National Assembly against the projected increase on the retirement age and the abolition of the retirement classes calculated based on the length of pensionable service.

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