Environment/Climate Change, Pay settlements, Bulgaria

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.

A new collective agreement for the workers in the water sector came into effect on 2 May and will run for two years. The agreement covers a wide range of pay and conditions and includes an increase on the sector minimum wage, higher rates for night work, a special procedure to protect trade union members against dismissal, additional paid annual leave for parents, for studying and for trade union events) and an annual one week sport event for all workers in the sector.

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

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

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