was the main demand of CEZ Bulgaria workers
on March 19. After several weeks of negotiations between workers and the company proved fruitless, employees
went on strike on April 10. The following day, an agreement was reached and workers secured a 24.9 per cent increase to
their base salaries.
Photo: NADEZDA CHIPEVA
Two weeks before Labour Day, employees of CEZ Bulgaria power utility scored a small but significant victory. On April 11, workers signed an agreement with the company’s management to end the strike that had started the previous day. Although electricity in western Bulgaria, supplied by CEZ, had not been interrupted, about 77 per cent of employees had joined the strike.
According to the agreement, CEZ agreed to increase workers’ average wages, back-dated to January 1 2008, by 22.6 per cent. Base salary would increase by 24.9 per cent, reaching 698 leva. CEZ employees who earn less than the company average would receive higher salary increases.
Evgeni Doushkov, a member of the strike committee, said it had also signed a collective labour contract. The firm agreed to pay a monthly six per cent bonus and 40 leva in food stamps to each employee. The promised increases will be paid out with April salaries.
Doushkov said that the salary increase would cost CEZ 39.1 million leva. However, labour unions paid a price for securing the raise, having been forced to agree to a staff cut of 400 in May. Management said it would issue redundancy payments of between four and 14 gross salaries.
Labour union representative Miroslav Mitovski said their success in negotiating the wage increase from CEZ would encourage employees of E.ON Bulgaria – the owner of the northern Bulgaria power distribution companies – who are pressing for similar demands.
Contacted by The Sofia Echo for comment, CEZ management was unavailable on both April 14 and 15.
The company’s workers began negotiating their salary increase at the beginning of March. They demanded a 25 per cent salary increase, better working conditions and the signing of the collective labour contract that had expired. Initially, CEZ management offered a 17 per cent salary increase, which workers turned down. On March 19, the company made a new offer to raise wages by 19.9 per cent, which was also rejected.
After strikers showed their unwillingness to abandon their initial demand, CEZ proposed a 23.4 per cent salary increase, an offer that was ultimately upgraded to 24.9 per cent. CEZ also announced that its proposal for new electricity prices from July onwards would have to take into account increased payroll expenditures.
The company has about 4600 employees in its three power distribution subsidiaries, according to information posted on its website.
CEZ Group entered Bulgaria at the end of 2004, when it bought 67 per cent of three power utilities in western Bulgaria – Sofia Electricity Distribution Company, Sofia Region Electricity Distribution Company and Pleven Electricity Distribution Company. At that time, the three firms serviced about 1.9 million people. CEZ merged the three firms into one susidiary, CEZ Electro Bulgaria, which sold 7.8 TWh of electricity last year.
