Living and working in Bulgaria

Actors and institutions

Trade unions, employers’ organisations and public institutions play a key role in the governance of the employment relationship, working conditions and industrial relations structures. They are interlocking parts in a multilevel system of governance that includes the European, national, sectoral, regional (provincial or local) and company levels. This section examines the main actors and institutions and their role in Bulgaria.

Public authorities involved in regulating working life

The state plays a general role of regulating, controlling and facilitating industrial relations through its institutions. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is the main national authority dealing with labour regulations and working conditions. It carries out consultations and cooperation with representative organisations of workers and employers at the national level in the development and implementation of policies in the labour market, the protection of the national labour market and training the workforce.

There are no specialised labour courts in Bulgaria. All individual labour conflicts are dealt with by the general courts. In 2016, with a change at the Labour Court (art.45 ‘Representation in court’) the trade unions and their branches are entitled, by the request of employees, to represent them in court.

As a mediation and arbitration body, the National Institute for Conciliation and Arbitrage (NICA) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy functions on a tripartite basis. The main aim of NICA is to facilitate the settlement of collective labour disputes through mediation and arbitration as an alternative, extrajudicial means of dispute settlement for collective labour conflicts.

The executive Agency ‘General Labour Inspectorate’ monitors the compliance of the labour legislation on quality of work, as well as Health and Safety at work.

The National Working Conditions Fund is created under the Law for Health and Safety Working conditions, providing finance for projects for improvement of working conditions with national, branch and sectoral importance.

Representativeness

The general rules of representativeness described in the Labour Code (Articles 34–35) were changed in 2012. (These changes were strongly questioned by institutions, employer organisations and trade unions. The President vetoed the initial proposal. Some of the suggested changes were rejected because of a ruling from the Constitutional Court.) In 2016, the Labour Code requirements for social partners’ representativeness have been reduced, making the eligibility easier to achieve.

The trade unions should prove the following to be accepted as nationally representative (art.34, Labour Code, in force from 29.01.2016):

• At least 50 000 members (75,000 in 2012);
• Its members to be at least 50 organisations with not less than five members in each economic activity defined by NACE- second digit codes and approved by the National Statistical Institute (NSI).
• Territorial representation – to have local branches in more than a quarter of municipalities in the country.
• To have a national governing body.
• Length of experience – to have the status of a legal entity, obtained by registration as a non-profit association at least three years before the census.

The employer organisations need to prove the following (art. 35, Labour code):

• At least 1,500 member companies with no less than 50,000 employees in total, or 100 000 employees within all members of the employer organisation, working with employment contract.
• They represent employers in more than a quarter of the NACE code-defined economic activities with no less than 5% of employees in each economic activity, or a minimum of 10 employers in each activity.
• Its members - employer organisations to represent more than a quarter of activities defined by NACE second digit code, with no less than 5% of employees in each economic activity, or a minimum of 10 members in each activity;
• Territorial representation – they represent employers in more than a quarter of Bulgaria’s municipalities.
• Length of experience – they have the status of a legal entity, obtained by registration as a non-profit association at least three years before the census.

After the Census of the criterion for representativeness in 2012, the Ministry Council recognised as representative two trade union confederations: Confederation of independent trade unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), Confederation of labour Podkrepa, and four employers’ organisations: Confederation of employers and industrialists in Bulgaria (KRIB), Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), and Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association. The Union for Private Economic Enterprise (UPEE) and the Union of Private Bulgarian Entrepreneurs, ‘Vazrazhdane’ (UPBE) were not approved as representative in 2012. UPBE joined BICA.

Following the Labour Code amendments in 2016, a decision by the Council of Ministers dated 10 August 2016, based on a census on the representativeness of the social partners in Bulgaria, formally recognised five nationally representative employer organisations and two trade unions: Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (BICA); Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA); Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (KRIB); Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI); Union for Private Economic Enterprise (UPEE); Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB); Confederation of Labour Podkrepa (CL Podkrepa).

More information on representativeness of the main social partner organisations can be found in Eurofound’s representativeness study of the cross-industry social partners or in Eurofound’s sectoral representativeness studies.

• Publication: Representativeness of the social partners in the European cross-industry social dialogue
• Topic: Representativeness

Trade unions

About trade union representation

The Labour Code (Articles 4 and 5) -provides that employees/employers have the right, without prior authorisation, to freely form trade unions /organisations, voluntarily join or leave them, considering their statutes only. No exclusion of employees or sectors is regulated in the Labour Code. Civil servants can also form and be members of trade unions (Law for Civil Servants). Freedom of association is also defined in the Constitution Act (Article 49).

Some limitations are settled by other legislative documents, such as the Law for Ministry of Interior. The employees of the security services have the right to join trade unions for the Ministry of Interior only (none of the nationally representative social partners).

By 2003, union membership was steadily decreasing. Union density had also declined between 2008 and 2013, but relatively less than the membership rate. This was due to the fact that overall employment also decreased by more than 15% in 2008–2012, as well as the shrinkage of some sectors – manufacturing, services and public administration. Since 2004 the main reasons for decline have been the privatisation of state companies, and the fact that more than 90% of companies are SMEs, which unions face challenges organising within. New forms of employment, such as self-employment, and workers in the grey economy, have also played a role.

According to Dimitrov (2018), trade union density still shows a trend of decline, although at a slower pace. Data from official censuses for 2008, 2012 and 2016 are 16.9%, 16.4% and 15.4% respectively. According to Dimitrov, density data is underestimated, since it only includes the nationally representative trade unions. Some surveys that have also taken into account non-representative organisations show rates that are approximately 5 percentage points higher.

Main trade union confederations and federations

The most important trade union confederations in Bulgaria, nationally representative, are the Confederation of Independent Trade unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Confederation of Labour (CL) Podkrepa.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) is the largest trade union in Bulgaria. CITUB was established in 1990, on the basis of the former, sole trade union during the Communist period ( Balgarski Profesionalni Sauzi - BPS). CL Podkrepa was formed on 8 February 1989 by a small group of dissidents. During the first years of its existence (up to 1991), CL Podkrepa combined trade union and political activities. However, CL Podkrepa rapidly became the second-largest trade union confederation in Bulgaria covering all economic sectors and regions.

In 2015–2016, CITUB and CL Podkrepa were very active in defending workers’ rights, proposing legislative changes and executing projects and campaigns. For its eighth Congress in May 2017, CITUB defined as top priority the easy access of every citizen to education, training, qualification, retraining, information, career guidance, recognition of knowledge, skills and competencies acquired during working life and informally through each life stage. CITUB emphasises the importance of appropriate mechanisms to ensure and improve the quality and effectiveness of all educational measures.

Both national representative trade unions are running information campaigns targeting young people, offering them the opportunity to join a trade union in the case of starting their first job. CITUB has organised meetings with graduates to present information on being out of the labour market and to whom they can turn for consultation and trade union protection. CL Podkrepa started in February 2016 training activities for the unemployed within the project ‘Horizons’, part of the National Action Plan for Employment for 2016. The planned total number of persons to be trained is 1,150 unemployed persons; 460 persons trained in the project will be employed until the end of 2016. The target group of the project includes the most vulnerable unemployed: young people, the long-term unemployed, Roma people including those over 50 years of age with low qualification and those with disabilities, as well as discouraged unemployed persons who have left the labour market. The first training sessions began in February 2016 and ended in July 2016.

In 2018, the most notable stand of the trade unions was their opposition to the proposal by employers’ associations to open the Bulgarian labour market to third-country workers. Both nationally representative trade unions stated their objections on the grounds of employment and social dumping, and refused to support the proposed amendments to the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act. According to the trade unions, for the 18 months up to February 2018, only 10 employers had requested permission to employ third-country citizens above the legally permitted threshold of 10%.

In 2018 CL Podkrepa organised a campaign for a higher rate of pay for night work. Unchanged since 2007, the rate is BGN 0.25 per hour (the same as when the minimum wage was BGN 180.00, compared to BGN 510 in 2018). The trade unions have insisted on a night work pay rate of at least 0.5% of the national minimum wage.

In October 2018 the two nationally representative trade unions and the Executive Agency General Labour Inspectorate signed a memorandum of cooperation, by means of which they agreed on joint actions guaranteeing a more effective application of the labour laws and information and consultation of workers on their rights.

In 2018, CITUB and CL Podkrepa held joint protest actions regarding the Bulgarian electric power industry, requesting a new power strategy 2030–2050, in which the state would compensate for losses resulting from the carbon emission quotas for power plant Maritsa Iztok 2.

Employers’ organisations

About employers’ representation

All employers have the right to join employer organisations (Labour Code, Article 5). One company can be a member of more than one employer organisation. This multiple membership makes it difficult to evaluate the real density and membership rate. Up to the year 2000, the number of employer organisations increased. However, since 2012 there have been only four representative employers’ organisations at national level, compared to six before the official census.

The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) addressed the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria and after its supportive decision, BCCI obtained an approval for national representation in 2012. Through amendments of the Labour Code, the Parliament adopted lower criteria (50,000 members as it was between 1992–2012, instead of 75,000 members) for the national representativeness of the social partners. In late January 2016 the new census of the membership of employer representatives and trade unions involved in NCTC was organised. and following that, in August 2016 five representative employer organisations received a mandate to operate until 2020.

According to the publicly available census data in 2012, employer organisations cover approximately 14% of the companies in Bulgaria. After the new census in 2016 this percentage is unofficially calculated at 15.5%, according to Dimitrov (2018).

*Percentage of employees working in an establishment which is a member of any employer organisation that is involved in collective bargaining.

Main employers’ organisations

According to the last census in 2016, the recent change in the legislative requirements (lowering the criteria for representation – returning the level of 50,000 members as it was in 1992–2012 instead of 75,000 members, and the decision of the Council of Ministers, there are five nationally representative employer organisations: the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG), the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Union for Private Economic Enterprise (UPEE).

Only CEIBG is not a member of global and European social dialogue employers’ structures. The sectoral employers’ federations are part of collective bargaining through the branch councils for cooperation. However, not all the branches and economic activities have collective agreements in place. UPEE is a non-governmental employers' organisation of micro, small and medium-sized companies, founded in 1989 by the first entrepreneurs in Bulgaria to promote economic initiatives and representation of collective interests of employers in the labour market and industrial relations. UPEE is a member of SME United and International Organization of Employers (IOE).

The employer organisations BIA and BCCI, publicly protested against the 2012 criteria calling them discriminatory, and contradictory to the main principle of international legislation. As a result of the 2012 census, the Council of Ministers appraised two organisations as not being representative: the Union for Private Economic Enterprise (UPEE) and the Union of Private Bulgarian Entrepreneurs, ‘Vazrazhdane’ (UPBE). The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked the President of the Republic to veto the legislative changes.

The Association of the Organisations of Bulgarian Employers (AOBE), registered in 1995, is a free union of the former (before 2017) nationally representative employer organisations (BIA, BICA, BCCI and CEIBG) and is a collective member of the International Organisation of Employers.

The employer organisations have been very active in public discussions about changes to labour legislation – for instance, on raising the minimum wage in 2015–2018, pension reform and social security issues – and often oppose the trade unions.

In 2018, the employer organisations boycotted the national negotiations for the new minimum insurance thresholds. This had happened for the two previous years. The representatives of employer organisations continue putting pressure on the Government to facilitate access by third-country skilled labour to the Bulgarian labour market.

Source: Dimitrov (2017) quoting Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (data from the official census of employer organisations held in 2016)

Tripartite and bipartite bodies and concertation

The main tripartite body at national level is the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation with its commissions (created in 1993) in the Council of Ministers, dealing with labour-related issues, social security and quality of life. Another tripartite body is the Economic and Social Council (2001). Under the aegis of the Ministries, according to the Labour Code, there are established Branch Councils for Tripartite Cooperation, dealing with labour related issues, social security and living standards in the respective economic branch. The nationally representative social partners participate in management bodies of different state institutions.

The bipartite bodies are organised through branch/sectoral councils for social cooperation that are engaged in social dialogue on various labour and social security-related issues between employers and trade union representatives. According to CITUB, bipartite social dialogue is provided in 12 Councils for social cooperation. There is no comprehensive data base for all bipartite bodies and their activity. At the company level social dialogue on health and safety working conditions is conducted by the Working Conditions Committees/groups (WCC/WCG).

The mechanism for information and consultation is fixed in the Labour Code (Article 7a), regulating the election of representatives for information and consultation. The number of representatives of employees in the General Assembly depends on the size of the company. Collective bargaining is regulated by the Labour Code (Chapter 4).

The Social Pact for Economic and Social Development of Bulgaria until 2009 has been signed by the government and the representative social partners. There is also an Agreement on 59 anti-crisis measures drawn up by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation in 2010. Two more national agreements were signed in 2010: one for home-based workers (Bulgaria’s ratification of ILO Convention No. 177 on home work of 1996) and one for teleworking (implementing the European social partners’ agreement on teleworking of 16 July 2002).

Workplace-level employee representation

There is no universal form of workplace representation in Bulgaria. As stated above, the Labour Code allows the election of employees as representatives at company level for information and consultation (Directive 14/2002 EC, 2006), and participants in the company General Assembly, but this form is rarely used in Bulgaria. In most cases, employees transfer the representation function to the trade unions. Two other forms of work-place representation are possible: employee representatives for the protection of employees’ economic and social interests, and health and safety committees/groups.

The employee representatives can be elected in all companies with at least 50 employees (Article 7c of the Labour Code) and could vote in the General Assembly in information and consultation procedures. The number of representatives (between three and nine) depends on the size of establishment.

According to Dimitrov (2018), employees’ representatives on information and consultation have been elected in only 20% of the enterprises covered by the law. Official national data is not available.

Employee representation at establishment level

The above figure from the European Company Survey 2013 compares Bulgaria with the European Union average for all workers for the question regarding the presence of an official structure of employee representation at the establishment.

Source: ECS 2013, private sector establishments with more than 10 employees – Eurofound data visualisation.