„Sofia Auto Transport“ with a statement to Iskra.bg: Employees’ rights are our priority!

The management of „Sofia Auto Transport“ issued a statement to Iskra.bg, in which it firmly declares that it does not hinder, but on the contrary – supports signing of a new Collective Labor Agreement (CLA). The statement comes in response to the claims from the trade union CITUB that there is tension among employees because a new CLA has not been signed. Additionally, there have been talks of planned protests.

„The claim that “Sofia Auto Transport” is hindering the negotiation process is not based on any objective facts. We are making consistent efforts to improve working conditions and prioritize the rights of our employees,“, the company’s management pointed out. They added:

„It is also untrue that we are violating the principles of social dialogue. On the contrary, both regarding the CLA and in general, we consistently follow the principles of equality and call on the trade unions and all interested parties to make the necessary efforts for the dialogue to continue in a spirit of mutual respect and to take productive steps forward.

The management of that “Sofia Auto Transport” should not be a party in a trade union dispute, and attempts to escalate social tension should not be presented as concern for the transport employees and their rights.

The expiration of the Collective Labor Agreement on December 17, 2024, is a fact. Due to the created contradictions, it seems impossible to sign a new one within the remaining days of the year.

Nevertheless, all clauses of the current Collective Labor Agreement (CLA) have been reproduced in the employer’s internal regulations, which remain in force and will be valid even without the signing of a new CLA. The purpose of signing a new CLA is to negotiate more favorable wages and working conditions compared to the current ones. Unfortunately, this is currently impossible due to reasons unrelated to the employer.

The negotiation process for signing a new CLA began at the initiative of the trade union organizations – the parties to the existing CLA in the company, namely the Federation of Transport of Podkrepa LC and the „Autotransport“ union at FTC-CITUB.

The third existing trade union organization within the company, affiliated with CITUB, issued a written statement expressing full support for the CLA draft presented by the other two unions and recognizing it as their own, with the intention to participate in the negotiation process with the employer.

Attempts followed by the employer to conduct negotiations with representatives of the three trade union organizations, but these attempts were unsuccessful due to disagreements among the unions themselves regarding the right to participate in the negotiation process.

The employer does not have the right to discriminate against representatives of any trade union organization within the company and has no legal grounds to exclude any of the unions from the negotiation process. We remind that Article 52, Paragraph 1, Item 1 of the Labor Code unconditionally obliges the employer to negotiate the signing of a collective labor agreement with representatives of all its employees, respectively with representatives of all trade union organizations in which employees are members within the company. Excluding representatives of any trade union organization wishing to participate in the process of adopting and signing a new CLA could be interpreted as discrimination against these individuals.

A meeting was held on December 16, 2024, to discuss the draft of the CLA. Unfortunately, despite the willingness of the management of “Sofia Auto Transport”, the negotiations on the clauses of the CLA did not begin substantively.

The role of the management of „Sofia Auto Transport“ is not to act as an arbitrator in someone else’s dispute. It will continue to follow the principles of equality and fight for the rights and working conditions of its employees, despite the accumulated problems over the years and despite the persistent attempts to create new ones coming from different sides.“

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