Bulgarian Miners Fearing Jobs Cuts to Stage Protest

Bulgarian miners from the two trade unions will stage a protests Tuesday in front of he office of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) to demand guarantees against job cuts in the sector.

The protest will include miners from the Podkrepa Labor Confederation and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB).

Miners and thermal power plant workers fear that Bulgaria's energy watchdog will remove the energy generated by TPPs from the energy mix mix in a bid to reduce electricity prices for household consumers.

The tension escalated after a statement of outgoing Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev that the only way to reduce electricity tariffs was to exclude the Brikel TPP and the Bobov Dol TPP from the energy mix and to reduce the share of the Maritsa Iztok 2 TPP in it.

The federations at CITUB and Podkrepa adamantly oppose the scenario involving a reduction of the workload of TPPs , cautioning that the step will result in massive job cuts in the energy and transport sectors.

The trade unionists define the step as an inadmissible encroachment by the state upon labor rights of the people employed in the sectors.

The protesters have sent a letter to outgoing DKEVR Chair Yuliana Ivanova and outgoing Economy and Energy Minister to invite them to a meeting.

Earlier on Monday, the outgoing Chair of DKEVR assured that miners and employees of coal-fired TPPs had nothing to worry about.

At a press conference on Monday, outgoing members of Bulgaria's energy watchdog explained that the upcoming reduction of electricity prices would be achieved without changes to the energy mix.

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