Bulgaria’s capital set for public transport strike on May 14 – schools closed for the day

Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia is set for a public transport strike on May 14, according to statements by trade union representatives and mayor Vassil Terziev.

The strike is expected to start at 4am and initially was expected to end at 8am, but going by reported statements by trade unionists, may continue until noon.

Buses, trolleybuses and trams will be involved in the strike, but the metro underground railway will operate according to schedule.

The Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions is demanding higher pay for public transport employees.

Ivan Kirilov, head of the Podkrepa Federation of Transport Workers, told bTV that the strike could stretch beyond noon on May 14 “for days” if “there is no agreement, if there is no invitation from the municipality to continue the negotiations, for new proposals to increase the salaries of workers,

Terziev, speaking in a television interview this past weekend, said that the average salary of a public transport motor vehicle driver in Sofia was about 3900 leva month and in the metro 4600 leva, not including 300 leva for food per month.

“They want 400 leva for this year on the base salary of absolutely everyone in the system, 500 leva next year, and 600 leva in 2027, we can allow a five per cent increase at this stage, which is about 100 leva on the basic salary, there is simply no other option,” Terziev said.

He said that since 2018, salaries have increased by an average of about 150 per cent, but this had not solved any of the systemic problems.

Pay is part of the problem, the main ones are mostly working conditions and rolling stock, he said. In order to replace the rolling stock, we need about a billion leva, Terziev said.

On the afternoon of May 13, Terziev announced that because of the public transport strike, schools in Sofia would be closed for the day.