Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131) - Bulgaria (Ratification: 2018)

The Committee notes the Government’s first report and the national measures and legal provisions giving effect to the Convention, particularly the Labour Code and the Ordinance No. 129 of 1991 on wage bargaining. It also takes note of the observations of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) communicated with the Government’s report. It further notes the observations of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) and the Union for Private Economic Enterprise (UPEE) communicated with the Government’s report as well as those of the Bulgarian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) received in 2021.

Articles 3 and 4(2) of the Convention. Elements to be taken into consideration in determining the level of minimum wages. Full consultation with the social partners. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that while the legislation does not provide for economic and social criteria for determining the level of the minimum wage, in recent years, the minimum wage has been adjusted in accordance with the gross domestic product’s growth, the average wage growth, the consumer price index and other indicators. The Government indicates that the draft decrees on minimum wages adopted by the Council of Ministers after consultation with the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation are supported by preliminary impact assessments and reports prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy on economic and social indicators, including the needs of workers and their families and economic factors. The Government also indicates that on 17 June 2020, it signed the National Tripartite Agreement with the national representative organizations of employers and workers aiming at resuming negotiations on the adoption of a transparent mechanism for determining the country’s minimum wage, including bipartite negotiations on minimum wages in 2021. The Government adds that although some agreements have been reached on minimum wage issues, an objective mechanism for determining the minimum wages’ level has not yet been completed due to discrepancies among social partners on the interpretation of the economic and social indicators to be considered. In this respect, the Committee notes that in its observations: (i) the CITUB indicates that the minimum wage proposed by the Council of Ministers does not meet the minimum needs of workers and their families; (ii) the BIA indicates that the criteria for determining the level of the minimum wage provided for in the Convention, in particular the economic factors, have not been clearly respected in practice and that the increase in minimum and average wages lags significantly behind labour productivity; (iii) the BCCI indicates that the Government does not make any effort to link minimum wage adjustments to objective criteria, that the evolution of the minimum wages significantly outpaced the rate of labour productivity in recent years, and that despite the meetings and consultations held with the social partners, no specific actions have been taken in order to develop a mechanism for determining the level of the minimum wage; and, (iv) the BICA and the UPEE agree with the information submitted by the Government. Based on the above, the Committee observes that there are divergences between the Government, on the one side, and the CITUB, the BIA and the BCCI, on the other, concerning the criteria reportedly taken into consideration in determining the level of the national minimum wage. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to communicate its comments in reply to the above-mentioned observations, providing more detailed information on the manner in which the needs of workers and their families as well as relevant economic factors are taken into consideration, in full consultation with social partners, in determining the level of the minimum wages in the country.