On 17 January, after a marathon 15-hour bargaining session, agreement has been reached between the state-owned Maritsa East Mines (BEH-EAD) on the one hand and the Federation of Independent Miners’ Unions (KNSB/CITUB) and the Podkrepa’s Miners’ Federation on the other. The settlement ended a seven-day coalminers’ strike in the Stara Zagora province. It produced a partial payment of a bonus that was promised the 7,000 miners in July 2011, but more importantly, calls for improved working conditions, an increase in investment at the three open-cast mines, and a commitment not to consider privatisation. The settlement outlines guidelines to improve health and safety at Bulgaria’s largest mining complex, a key point raised in an intervention of the ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions). The two unions won assurances that the state company will make BGN 20 million (€10.2 million) available for safety. On the fifth day of the strike, management made an effort to have the Court declare the strike illegal, but the magistrates dismissed the case.
English: http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4848-Week-Long-Coal-Strike ...;
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=135905
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl or the communications officer of the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2012.