The protest march-meeting will start in front of the Finance Ministry building on July 15, organized by the Trade Union Federation of the Ministry of Interior (TUFEMI) demanding a 10% increase in basic salaries. This was announced by the trade unionists on Facebook, where it was specified:
„Dissatisfied employees will gather at 1:00 p.m., where they will publicly respond to the inadequate statements made by Minister Asen Vassilev regarding the pay and motivation of employees, as well as the theses of recent days that if there was an increase in salaries the previous year, then there is no salary increase in Budget 2023.
At 1:15 p.m., the protesters will march to the National Assembly, where they will express their disagreement with the behavior and position of the MPs from the 49th National Assembly, who with their silence and inaction support the theses of the Minister of Finance.
The TUFEMI recalled that the received salary increase in 2022 compensated for a severe injustice from 2020, when representatives of 35 government departments received a salary increase due to the efforts made to fight the COVID crisis, and the employees of the Ministry of the Interior were not in this list. This in itself was a severe insult and humiliation for the professionals who carried out round-the-clock checks, organized checkpoints and checked thousands of quarantined Bulgarians.
The TUFEMI sees a lot of similarities between Minister Vassilev and his predecessors – Vladislav Goranov and Simeon Dyankov, whose inadequate and unjust decisions blew up not only social peace, but also led to dozens of blockades at key intersections and highways. It is important to remember that equal membership in the European Union does not only concern Bulgaria’s admission to the Eurozone and Schengen, but requires guaranteeing the security of all Bulgarian citizens and ensuring decent working conditions and pay for those working in the Ministry of the Interior.
The representatives of the Federation extend an invitation to all MPs who are willing to hear the arguments of the protesters and are interested in the opinion of the employees of the Ministry of Interior to come to the National Assembly Square on 15 July 2023.
The TUFEMI invites all its colleagues, their relatives and families and Bulgarian citizens to the protest on 15 July 2023, because governments are temporary – the need for citizen security is permanent!“
