The weapons factory VMZ in Sopot, which manufactures anything from assault rifles and heavy machine guns to artillery ordinance and parts for armoured assault vehicles, has gone on strike on strike on November 17 at 8am , as reported by the Bulgarian news agency BTA. This, being the first round of the strike, will be followed by a second wave of protesters who will come out as an effective strike starting at 11.15am. The workers will not leave their workstations however, and will remain in the factory.

The first wave of strikes will last for an hour and it will serve as a general warning for an impending larger strike, which will result in a full-blown shutdown of all activity in the factory, according to Georgi Katsarov of the "Podkrepa" trade union at the plant. He said that whether the initial strike will become a general strike depended on the negotiations with the Government. The workers demand that they be informed of the productions schedule of the factory for the next six months, and whether the factory has a future in the long term.

Salaries at the factory range between 320 and 340 leva. In an news conference in Sofia on November 7, the executive manager of the factory Ivan Ivanov claimed that the salaries in the factory are around 700 leva. He said that workers were being paid in full, and that with the devaluation of the Bulgarian lev in relation to the US dollar, the revenue from the company's produce was greater since all of the exports are in US dollars.

Labour unions, however, claim that those figures are not representative of the reality in the factory and that the salaries were a lot lower than the figures cited by Ivanov.

In spite of the good business outlook and the statement that the factory will have business for the future, Ivanov also said he was resigning from his post. As previously reported by The Sofia Echo, he claimed personal reasons, saying "it was time for me to go, and that I have had enough".

However, he also claimed that the plant was in dire need of modernisation and new equipment. The plant has the knowhow and the potential to be amongst the leading exporters and producers in Europe. But it has been systematicall neglected by the Government and, as a consequence, the production lines and machinery presently in operation are obsolete and unfeasable.