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Victoria Mindova

Pepa Krasteva is the General Secretary of the General Central of Branch Trade Unions in Bulgaria. GRReporter met with her at the 16^th World Trade Union Congress of in Athens, where she represented the Bulgarian trade unions of the private sector employees. The Central of Branch Trade Unions has a total of 92 thousand members, which are mainly seasonal workers in summer resorts. Here is what Pepa Krasteva told us about the union movements in Bulgaria and her impressions from the Greek counterparts:

Bulgaria is known for the low salaries which some others called very competitive and for the working hours that are longer than the eight-hour working day typical for most of the countries throughout the world. Would you tell us more about what could be done to improve the working conditions in our country?

I think that the most important thing now in Bulgaria is to make the people and the workers more self-confident. Their self-confidence is extremely low no matter that they are good professionals in various fields of activity. This has already been a 20-year struggle for survival since the 1990s and effective solutions to employment issues have not yet been found. This process of changing people’s way of thinking is very difficult.

Almost 95% of the families in Bulgaria remained unemployed for months at some point or other during the last two decades. The people have experienced various hardships. They relied on their parents’ pensions for months and they are so stressed now that the concern for their children, for tomorrow prevails over the idea of ​​exercising their union right to gain some ordinary social rights. Therefore, they are not as active as the Greeks, for example. The union organisations in Greece are much more active because they are more united and have serious trade union activities for many years. The working people of Greece live and work under capitalistic conditions, and capitalism in Bulgaria was born actually only 20 years ago with the change of the authority.

What do you think of the union activity in Greece? Do you think that their initiatives are justified and are they properly targeted?

Yes, I believe that all the actions taken by the Greek trade unions are not only justified, but extremely well targeted to achieve the desired results. They have a lot of success, all the same that they could be at the price of blocked roads and other problems created during the fight, but in the end their actions are crowned with many achievements for the workers. And this is very important.

Do you think there is something to learn from the experience of the Greek trade unions?

Yes, I definitely think that the Greek trade union movements could serve as examples for successful work and there is a lot to learn from them. I was invited to participate in the organisation of the strike in Naples several years ago, in which 52 000 people took part. Such a massive event could be organised only by people who have high organisational capacity and capabilities. Not everyone could make such an event. So, people specifically trained for this are needed and, of course, workers who fully and actively support the trade union movements.

How do you see the development of trade union powers? In Australia, for example, most strikes are outlawed and trade unions could be sentenced up to five months of imprisonment if it is proved that the law was violated. Do you think that the future of the right of trade union actions is threatened, although it is a democratic right in nature?

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria had signed an agreement in the past not to hold strikes. So, anything is possible. It mainly depends on the government and the trade union policy and its positions. The General Central of the Branch Unions is politically neutral and during our 20 years of experience we have not been in association with any party in Bulgaria, whether it has had great potential and other opportunities. It is important for us to be able to perform our duties efficiently, to support the workers and not to dependent on anyone.

In this sense, what do you think of the trade union structure in Greece, which is directly linked to the parties in the country? Each party has its trade unionists in all sectors. What do you think of their independence in this case?

The structure in Greece is really different, and that is why they are so strong. The unionists have found the party embodiment of their views and they have greater support in this way. For example, the beliefs, the convictions and the actions of the Greek Communist Party completely coincide with the union of PAME and when the people come together, the people become stronger.

If we should look at Bulgaria in this sense, such a thing could not happen because the Bulgarian Socialist Party does not follow left politics and, therefore, it could not meet our vision, decisions and actions.