Bulgaria's Black Sea Port of Burgas to Lay off 600 Workers

One of Bulgaria’s two major ports, Burgas, is going to cut by more than one third its workers in 2010-2011, its CEO Ruslan Petkov has announced.

Petkov hosted Friday a meeting between Deputy Transport Minister Kamen Kichev and the local trade unions.

Of the 1 360 workers of Port Burgas, 200 will be laid off in 2010, and 360 more – in 2011.

The meeting of the Deputy Transport Minister and the syndicates comes as a follow-up of the workers’ unrest in the Port in February and March as they protested against unfavorable state policies regarding a brand new but unused freight terminal, Terminal 2A.

Deputy Minister Kichev has announced that the government and the trade unionists have reached an agreement about the future of Port Burgas. The Port is not going to get a new loan but will be given on concession.

The Podkrepa Labor Confederation has declared that while it agreed with the government about the concession plan, it did not agree with the layoffs of port workers.

It is still unclear whether the Port of Burgas will be offered to potential concessionaires with or without the troubled Terminal 2A. The Bulgarian government is also considering giving on a concession the Port of Varna as well.

One of the arguments of the port management for making some 600 workers redundant is the fact that the Port of Varna employs 1 600 workers but processes twice more cargo than the Port of Burgas.