11 November, 2008Workers of the ailing Kremikovtzi steel plant have not been paid for three months and are calling on the government to intervene.
BULGARIA: More than 2000 workers from Bulgaria's largest steel plant, Kremikovtzi, staged massive protests Monday for a fourth time in two weeks following the government's failure to assist the plant in the payment of delayed salaries, as it had pledged to do last week.
Workers launched a three-day protest on October 29 following the news of the pending closure of the Kremikovtzi mill which employs roughly 5,000 steelworkers represented by metal unions Metalicy and the Federation of Metallurgy, both affiliates of the International Metalworkers' Federation.
On October 31, Peter Dimitrov, the country's Minister of Economy and Energy, announced that the government had made a plan for an eventual bail out package and that all unpaid salaries would be paid by November 7.
Kremikovtzi workers, who have not been paid since July, are calling on the Bulgarian government, which owns a 25 per cent stake in the plant, to intervene to ensure that:
- August and September salaries are paid immediately;
- the plant is rescued from closure and liquidation; and
- that no workers are dismissed.
The Kremikovtzi plant, which is the biggest steel maker in the Balkans and produces 10% of Bulgaria's total exports, is majority owned by Indian company Global Steel Holding of Pramod Mittal, the brother of ArcelorMittal's Laksmi Mittal.