Labour minister Mladenov has said talks about layoffs at the Sopot military plant (see Newsletter July-August 2012), whose privatisation failed again last month, are about to start between the state, specialists and trade unions. According to the minister 900 jobs would certainly be saved and some 400 workers would quit voluntarily under a privileged state assistance programme that will help them find new jobs. The Sopot workers will not need to go to the regular unemployment office but to a mobile office that will be set up on the plant’s premises. Layoffs will start at the end of the month or beginning of March. However, 600 workers have already been dismissed and the fate of the factory remains unclear.
English: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=148167
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.