Bulgaria's Labor Min Tables Tough Measures to Boost Work Safety

Society | April 20, 2015, Monday // 10:33
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's Labor Min Tables Tough Measures to Boost Work Safety Ivaylo Kalfin, Bulgaria's Labor and Social and Demographic Policy Minister. Photo by BGNES

Labor and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Kalfin has proposed Criminal Code amendments targeting employers who do not sign contracts with workers.

Under changes put forward by Kalfin, an employee in Bulgaria could be facing imprisonment if a worker the latter dies in a work-related accident and an inspection establishes he or she has not signed a labor contract.

This follows last week's two incidents which claimed the lives of four workers. A miner died at the Obrochishte manganese mine in Northeastern Bulgaria on Tuesday, and on the next day a hotel collapsed near the Black Sea city of Varna leaving four construction workers dead.

It was revealed that the four who died in the latter accident had neither insurance nor labor contracts.

Kalfin told private national bTV station on Monday that he relied on support from the main opposition parties, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS).

He reminded that the proposal was based on a draft prepared by an expert team under the tenure of his predecessor, Hasan Ademov, who took the office in the socialist-liberal cabinet of 2013-2014.

Asked about speeding up the pension reform, Kalfin said the government would inevitably have to boost social contributions on paid by employers, a measure that would certainly meet the resistance of business representatives.

The minimum pension was BGN 154 (EUR 77) in 2014, and the average one was at BGN 311.35 (nearly BGN 156).

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Tags: Ivaylo Kalfin, Hasan Ademov, Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, Obrochishte, mine, labor contracts, safety, Kalfin

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