Health, Central government, Bulgaria

The Council of Ministers in Bulgaria has agreed to allocate BGN 180 million (€92 million) for a salary increase benefiting 53,000 state administration employees. This increase, averaging BGN 283 (€145) retroactively from 1 January, aims to address disparities in salaries within the public sector. A decree approved by the Council of Ministers outlines the allocation of a total of BGN 268 million (€137 million) in the budget for this purpose. The KNSB and Podkrepa federations actively participated in negotiations over the past three months to develop the methodology and distribution of these

The CITUB trade union confederation reports that workers in regional health inspectorates and emergency medical centres have seen substantial salary increases from the beginning of December. Regional health inspection staff have seen pay rise by up to 30% while emergency medical staff are getting around 22%. Unions have been organising a series of protests over pay since the autumn. Meanwhile, the Podkrepa trade union confederation reports that workers at the Ministry of Justice are covered by a new framework agreement that strengthens social dialogue and ensures protection of workers’ social

Protests organised by the CITUB and Podkrepa confederations have produced positive outcomes in the state budget with additional funds for a range of public services include provisions for pay increases in several areas. Municipal administrations will get BGN 30.3m (€15.5m) for salary increases while pay in regional administrations is set to rise by 10% on average. Workers covered by interior ministry responsibilities could see pay rises of up to 20% while employees in agencies dealing with social assistance, employment and labour inspection will see personnel costs increase by BGN 26m (€13m)

Over 1500 employees of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) took part in a one-hour warning strike on 13 June organised by trade unions in the CITUB and Podkrepa confederations. The unions are calling for an increase on the basic salaries of all NHIF employees and the creation of at least 200 new full-time positions to ensure that the service can copes with new demand on the NHIF. The unions estimate that an extra BGN 10 million (€5.1m) is needed to cover these costs and wants to ensure that this is include in the NHIF budget for 2022. NHIF workers are highly qualified specialists

The Federation of Health Unions (CITUB) and Medical Federation (Podkrepa) have signed a new collective agreement with the ministry of health that will run until April 2024. There are substantial pay increases on monthly salaries for doctors and nurses which both the trade unions and government hope will attract new workers to the sector and encourage them to remain in the country. Doctors will get an increase of BGN 800 (€400) with BGN 550 (€280) for health professionals and BGN 200 (€100) for nurses. Minimum salaries will now be BGN 1900 (€970) for specialist doctors, BGN 1500 (€765) for

Trade unions, employers and the government have signed a major agreement which sets out a range of measures for the coming two years. These cover green and energy issues as well as plans to increase unemployment benefit and pensions. Health workers dealing with COVID-19 will see a 30% increase on pay for the period August-December this year, around 6000 employees will benefit. There is also additional funding for municipalities to ensure that the collective agreement covering childcare nurses is fully implemented. This will particularly affect workers in small towns guaranteeing that they

Around 5000 health workers joined a national demonstration in Sofia on 7 October to call for higher pay and more training to help prevent the loss of more staff from the sector. Following the protest a delegation met the health minister who committed an extra BGN 200m (EUR 102m) to the 2020 budget, three quarters of which would go to fund salary increases. The CITUB confederation said that this would help ensure salaries met a target of BGN 900-950 (EUR 460-485) for nurses and BGN 1100-1200 (EUR 560-615) for doctors.

Health unions in Bulgaria signed a new collective agreement on 8 November which includes substantial pay increases for workers across the sector. Compared to the pay rates set in the 2016 collective agreement, the minimum wage for nurses, midwives and laboratory technicians will increase by 22% from 900 lev (EUR 460) to 1100 lev (EUR 560) a month. The basic rate for doctors and pharmacists will increase by just under 30% from 1200 lev (EUR 615) to 1550 lev (EUR 790). Higher increases of up to 50% will be paid to medical specialists.

On 12 May healthworkers in Sofia and Zagreb demonstrated over poor pay and working conditions and the crisis of understaffing. 5000 nurses, medical professionals, midwives and lab technicians joined a demonstration outside the Council of Ministers in Sofia demanding a 1500 Lev (EUR 765) minimum wage for health workers as a step towards stemming the flow of health workers out of the country. In Zagreb the call was also for improved pay and working conditions and in particular the respect for collective agreements in relation to overtime pay.

The CITUB confederation organised a national demonstration on 27 October calling for a 100 BGN (50 EUR) pay rise for all workers. The protest will also focus on the public services with the proposed budget for 2018 allowing for only a 5% pay increase while unions representing health and social service and other public services are calling for a 10% increase. Another slogan of the demonstration is protection of workers' rights as the government is planning to cut entitlement related to job security and sick pay.EPSU sent a solidarity message.