Strike to Halt All Bulgarian Trains on November 24

Workers of the Bulgarian State-owned Railways, BDZ Holding, are starting an effective, nation-wide strike on November 24.

The news was announced by the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, Monday, citing the BDZ trade union (KNSB) leader and chair of the strike committee, Petar Bunev.

The strike will lead to a paralysis of the railroad system on that day with stopping all trains from 8 am to 4 pm.

The decision had been made unanimously by the two major Bulgarian trade unions - the Confederation of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates (KNSB) and Confederation of Labor (KT) Podkrepa.

The strike committees are going to decide later how long the strike will last, but the actions will be legal, without railroad blocks and rallies before the Parliament, they say.

Last week the BDZ management announced that there will be layoffs of 2 000 workers, cancelation of 150 trains, and increase of ticket prices along state-subsidized routes by 9% as of January 1, 2012, and those of "business trains", i.e. the handful of profitable railway routes in Bulgaria – by 15% as December 1, 2011.

The laid-off workers will receive six gross monthly salaries, however, the trade unions firmly opposed the measures and threatened mass strike. They say the actual layoff will end up being 3 000 while upping ticket prices and cancelations of trains will deprive people from the option of traveling on trains to work and school.

Bunev further warns that 90% of the planned layoffs include staff directly involved in railroad security, adding signing the class labor contract is the most important demand, and the only way to prevent the halting of trains on November 24.

Earlier Monday, Vladimir Vladimirov, Chair of the Board of Directors of BDZ Holding declared reforms are a must in order to prevent total bankruptcy of the railroads.

Transport Minister, Ivaylo Moskovski, warned the trade union that a strike would mean liquidation of the railways, stressing BDZ will not get any money and must cut on expenses.

"Those workers had to go on strike when the debt of BDZ reached BGN 800 M," he said.