The Metropolitan Municipality will increase the wages of workers in public transport by 15% from March 1, 2024, the municipal administration reported, after the meeting of the Mayor of Sofia, Vasil Terziev, with the directors of the transport companies and the representatives of the trade unions.
In addition to the salary increase, the agreement includes scheduled and measureswhich aim to improve the quality of urban transport, to guarantee a more attractive service for citizens, to improve the working environment of employed employees, to support the provision of new means of transport and their provision with spare parts, the Municipality also states.
According to Terziev, the long-term approach will make it so that Sofia should not be a hostage to someone’s interests. We want good management of transport companies and it is important to have an honest conversation about what can happen and what can’t happen, the mayor added.
Another important point from today’s meeting is that by the end of the year, a fair bonus system will be created with objective and traceable performance criteria for transport workers. The mayor of Sofia and the unions have agreed to draw up a three-year plan for the development of the newly hired employees and thus ensure long-term employment and career development.
As part of the measures, they will be provided during the year work clothes and personal protective equipment funds for the staff, the sanitary facilities at the final stops will also be repaired. In addition, the Municipality is committed to building dormitories for city transport drivers.
“Life has shown that the first step is the most difficult. And I hope that in the future we will also walk on a well-trodden path, and not jump over obstacles”, said the president of the Confederation of Labor “Podkrepa” Dimitar Manolov.
“We still need to start talking with the Finance Minister for 2025 so that policies can be made that are needed – both for the people who are now working and for those who need to be recruited. The expectation is to find a way for the state to sustainably support urban transport”, said the president of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB), Plamen Dimitrov.
“The agreement is key, because for the first time it is really being talked about working conditions in Sofia’s public transport. Money has been secured for the sanitary units, one dormitory will be renovated, then three more. It won’t happen in a month, but we are determined to improve the conditions for people who work in transport”, said municipal councilor Andrey Zografski, a member of the transport committee in the Metropolitan Municipal Council.
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