Negotiations between the Bulgarian State Railways Company management and the Bulgarian Railmen Syndicate with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) collapsed on December 7. “The Trade Unions are trying to blackmail us and this is not acceptable,” Vladimir Dounchev, Director of the Bulgarian State Railways Company, said. He promised that the negotiations will continue on December 10. CITUB insists that concrete dates be fixed for the payment of the owed sums till December 31.