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Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Bulgaria (RATIFICATION: 1959)

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The Committee takes note of the observations of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) transmitted with the Government’s report in 2019 concerning issues examined in the present comment.

The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that the Labour Code was amended in 2020 to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining and that the amendments were drafted with active participation of experts of the social partners and adopted after consultations with the nationally representative organizations of workers and employers in the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation. The relevant amendments are assessed in more detail below.

The Committee further notes the adoption of the Protection of Persons Who Report or Publicly Disclose Information on Breaches Act, 2023. The Government indicates that the Law is also applicable to public disclosure of information on violations of labour legislation and legislation related to the performance of public service.

Article 1 of the Convention. Adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination. In its previous comment, the Committee invited the Government to collect statistical information on the application of the existing mechanisms against anti-union discrimination. It also encouraged the Government to hold consultations with the most representative organizations to assess, in light of the statistical information, the need for any additional measures in this respect. While observing that the Government does not provide any updated information in this regard, the Committee takes note of the judicial decisions provided in the Government’s report, which mainly concern preliminary protection of trade union officials in the event of dismissal set out in section 333 of the Labour Code. The Committee requests the Government to collect statistical information on the application of the existing mechanisms to protect against anti-union discrimination and to provide information in this regard.

Article 2. Adequate protection against acts of interference. In its previous comment, having observed that national legislation does not provide adequate protection of workers’ organizations against acts of interference by employers or employers’ organizations, the Committee requested once again the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the national legislation accordingly. Noting the absence of a reply from the Government on this issue, the Committee reiterates its previous request.

Article 4. Promotion of collective bargaining. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that the 2020 amendments to the Labour Code aim to renew the interest in collective bargaining and notes the Government’s indication that: (i) section 2 sets that the State shall regulate industrial relations through dialogue with the workers and employers and their organizations; (ii) section 57 allows workers who are not members of a trade union party to a collective agreement to accede to the agreement by an application to the employer or to the leadership of the union, and provides that any monetary contributions from these workers shall be determined by the parties to the collective agreement; and (iii) section 51b improves and supports the procedure for extending sectoral or branch collective agreements (a joint request by the parties to the collective agreement and a written consent of all workers’ and employers’ organizations representatives at the national level), thereby increasing the coverage of collective bargaining. The Committee takes due note of these amendments and requests the Government to provide information on the practical application of the new extension procedure and its impact on the collective bargaining coverage.

Articles 4 and 6. Collective bargaining in the public sector. In its previous comment, the Committee urged the Government to take, as soon as possible, the steps necessary to amend the Civil Servants Act so as to ensure the right to collective bargaining of public servants not engaged in the administration of the State. In the absence of any information from the Government on this point, the Committee reiterates its request and trusts that the Government will be in a position to provide updates on this matter in its next report.

Application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to provide statistics on collective bargaining and to inform on the measures taken to promote it. The Committee notes that the Government: (i) refers to the annual reports of the National Institute for Conciliation and Arbitration (NICA) for detailed information on the dynamics of collective agreements and collective labour disputes (available in Bulgarian) without giving details to the Committee on the statistical information requested; and (ii) states that the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy promotes social dialogue and collective bargaining mechanisms through, inter alia, capacity-building of the social partners and the development of an online information resource on collective bargaining agreements and collective labour disputes, which was welcomed by the CITUB. The Committee observes at the same time that, according to the CITUB: (i) there are many cases of employers who refuse to negotiate, delay negotiations or violate concluded collective agreements; (ii) measures to encourage the full development of collective bargaining in line with Article 4 of the Convention are absent; and (iii) there is a need to develop a methodology for calculating the coverage of collective agreements and monitoring the process at different levels, involving the expertise of the General Labour Inspectorate and the NICA. Based on the above, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the number of collective agreements concluded and in force, the sectors concerned and the percentage of the workforce covered by these agreements. The Committee further requests the Government to continue to take measures to encourage and promote the full development and utilization of collective bargaining at all levels and to provide information in this respect.