Italian shoe factory in Bulgaria "deprived workers of basic rights"

Labor Minister Emiliya Maslarova held urgent talks with the management at Euro Shoes, an Italian-owned factory in Dupnitsa, southwest of Sofia, following the death of two women workers within two weeks of each other. Doctors reported that both women had died due to exhausting exploitation at the factory.

Lyubka Georgieva from the local union said workers at the factory were deprived of basic rights. They were not allowed to join a union and were dismissed if they did, she said. Workers were often made to work through their lunch-break and were forced to show up during weekends. They did not receive any pay for overtime labour. The workers’ sick leaves were also not respected by the factory management even when all the proper documents had been presented, Elena Peneva, a local doctor told the media. She said workers at the factory visited the hospitals in the region more often than other people, generally due to exhaustion related problems.

Labor Minister Maslarova said an evaluation of the work environment at Euro Shoes should be ready by February 5. If the safety recommendations arising from this evaluation were not kept, the factory might be shut down, she declared. She called on union leaders and employers to be more unified in demanding observing of the law, "just like in the EU", and added that Bulgarian workers needed to be much more active in seeking their rights.

After her meeting with the factory’s management and the Italian owner, Maslarova reported that 36 instructions were made for the improvement of work processes at the factory and three actions of the factory were stopped completely. According to Maslarova four special regimes for safety work were introduced and, in accordance with Bulgarian legislation, these would be the last measures carried out before closing the factory if they were not complied with. She said the owner had also agreed to allow the formation of trade union structures within the company.

Bulgarian labour laws are being synchronized with European legislation and all legal orders must be complied with no matter who the investor is, Minister Maslarova insisted. She said foreign investors were welcome in Bulgaria, but they should know that Bulgarian workers are to be equal to their European colleagues.