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Employers back draft Budget 2010, trade unions warn of strikes

Tue, Oct 27 2009 10:13 CET

byDnevnik.bg

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Employers back draft Budget 2010, trade unions warn of strikes

Photo: Julia Lazarova

The draft Budget 2010 was shifting the burden of the economic meltdown to hired labourers and the very poor, the two major trade unions in Bulgaria said in a joint statement on October 26 2009.

On October 26,  the draft Budget was discussed at a meeting of the national tripartite council - a structure which brings together Government, employers and trade unions. The draft Budget has to be sent to Parliament by the end of the month, and is expected to be tabled on October 28 2009.

At the meeting, trade unions said that squeezing out allocations for measures to shore up the labour market would raise the jobless rate to 15 to16 per cent at the end of 2010.

"As the crisis is going from bad to worse, the Government is trying to cut costs, jeopardising social benefits payments," said Plamen Dimitrov, vice-president of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB).

CITUB president Zhelyazko Hristov said that the proposed cutbacks could set off a wave of protests.

The draft Budget got the thumbs-up from business representatives. The Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria said in a statement that the draft bill lived up to the reality of the worldwide crisis.

The organisation supported the planned taxation and social security targets aimed at safeguarding economic stability while stimulating businesses and investment activity.

The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) also backed the bill and said that the Budget aimed to be "balanced and cautious Budget". However BIA said the expected two per cent decrease in Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) was too optimistic.

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