loaded word who has managed to create an inde- Krustyo Petkov, sociology profes- of the ashes of the old state-control- pendent workers' organisation out the independent unions' first ven- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK about probably the only labour move- tures into collective bargaining, ment leader in Eastern Europe Confederation of Independent Trade unions in Bulgaria, is led unions. Petkov talked to sor and President of the
Geörgy Kazakov cludes different coefficients so that those on We lost the support of some traditional party cadres who had infiltrated the trade unions because we removed the old union structures. Most of these people were old Did you lose the support of many old Petkov, leader of the Confederation of higher incomes receive lower benefits. Independent Trade Unions Party members? partnership and to educate our members that ests is collective bargaining. Strikes may be necessary too, but rarely, I would say, in the So we signed a national agreement in March with the government and the Union of wards opened negotiations in the factories and We also pressed the government to do several things which had never been done - to Firstly we had to set up a system of social the best instrument for defending their inter- Economic Managers and immediately after- enterprises. Now we have collective bargain- increase minimum pensions and minimum wages, and finally, to index-link wages, un- ing agreements in some 20 per cent of them. A small group of reformers decided to do it, some of us from academic backgrounds, We are not revolutionaries, but we believe that organisations like the trade unions can be changed if you remove the top leadership, cut the links with the dictatorship of the Com- holding on to their 3 million mem- Programme and the prospects for munists and set up an independent Why did you break with the com- their Alternative Economic trade union confederation? some from the grassroots. bers.
cadres from the (party-dominated) councils which we abolished so when you touch their country-wide network of local groups, baby food we were going to call a na- tional strike. Suddenly they managed to find the hard currency to buy It!" "When supplies of baby milk ran With 10,000 activists in Sofia, a that if they did not get hold of the out we told the Ministry of Health interests they begin to act against you. employment benefits and pensions. The in- dexations agreement, signed in August, in- be nipped in the bud by the arrival of sible changes in this direction could may be forced to make concessions foreign petro- chemical firms. "Now Bulgaria has opened its borders we to (these companles). The country will become one big chemical fac- tory!" munist Party (now the BSP) and if you get support from the base, All these conditions themselves go unaddressed. Says the the system under which higher wages are dangerous. It they accept higher are paid to workers doing the most leader of Ecoglasnost, actor Petar Slabakov, "People know their jobs hazardous jobs while the hazards pay as compensation It's only be existed at the beginning of this year.
Page 23 government, local Industry managers support (according to a recent poll) The movement has negotiated with and the unions over plant closures. Ecoglasnost wields real Influence. 18 members in parliament and the programme and we will fight for it Slabakov, "We have declared our of 67 per cent of the population, For the future, says Petar whoever is in government." Petar Slabakov gives some examples: "Every day for five months we have Ecoglasnost has brought Bulgaria's ecological plight to the world's atten "We stopped a nuclear power plant been making a human chain to stop a Not only was it going to cost 44 bil- tlon with a number of bold actions. lion levas, but the site was also an they wanted to build in Pervomay. dam being constructed at Cherni earthquake zone. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28. November 1990 cause they don't see any alternative." by heavy industry. So any attempts to workers and engineers are employed Petar Slabakov fears that any pos- facing the government and the trade would involve wholesale restructur- ing of the economy and creation of The Issue of redeployment Is, in unions. More than 150,000 skilled shut down hazardous production without calamitous social costs fact, one of the most explosive new jobs.
FEATURES is that combines political and trade union activity. The leadership is on the far right wing of and close links with religious movements here worry All our 70 federations and individual unions are based on the trades and The other very impor- the UDF. Their monar- What structures are you trying to build sympathies at local level? tant problem Podkrepa chist us. support privatisation because 98 per cent of ty reduced to a minimum and priority given to We heard that some of them from the BSP are now suggesting that the party needs its own trade unions in order to have an influence at the workplace. It the BSP does try to split off some of our union branches; we shall counter-attack straight away. And I believe we Yes of course. In our Alternative Economic Programme we explain our positions. We shall state-controlled property is now working inef- ficiently and has been for decades. We argue for a mixed economy with state-owned proper- private property, to co-operatives and to com- would take at least half of them back with us. Do you welcome privatisation and a free market economy?
Melanie Friend/Format experts work together lawyers, branch principle. Instead of the old councils we now have people whose job is simply to co-or- dinate the work of the different branches. At the same time, in 30 towns, introduced Centres for Trade Union we regard as something of an innovation. Different sociologists, economists, labour safety specialists some 10-12 people. which have protection there we nomenklatura to turn their information and munal ownership which was important in Bul- In principle, I can't see any difference. But first we have to be more careful not to allow the hierarchy of the party and the state contacts to their political and economic ad- vantage - something which is already happen- ing. Second, we must not allow the people from the black market to become rich. These We fear the economic colonisation of the come. But if, for example, multinationals and rich citizens start to buy their way in it will be way in which, for example, the Polish How would this be different from the economy. Foreign investment will be are the most dangerous things. economy has moved? garia in the past.
tensions. Some of our Bulgarian convenors into political parties but to have a party as our The leadership does, yes. But in some of towards ethnic groups which creates a lot of don't support the Turkish workers and vice versa. We understand that people from the Turkish movement in some localities are thinking about setting up separate trade unions. If we start to have unions only for Bul- our local organisation there is antagonism from the Turkish Bulgarians in 1985? restoration of the rights taken away Does the Confederation support the People's hopes have been dashed by rocketing inflation, main political partner. unemployment and rationing. even an educational role - showing people how conflicts can be avoided and problems I would say we are in for a very difficult period. The unions will probably lose several thousand people in the future because of the economic crisis: then we shall have to build up again. I expect a lot of spontaneous strikes in which we will have to play a role. It will be As far as the political situation is con- given the crisis of the economy and tackled first of all through legal channels. How do you see your future role, the political paralysis? Members can go and see them for advice and the the branches in their negotia- tions with the employers. help Centres a very wrong step and against the interests of Frankly, unemployment is inevitable. But I during the deep economic crisis in the Thirties the country. So I want privatisation controlled by a special agency accountable to the Nation- Finally, we believe that privatisation must be carried out with the participation of the workers by giving them shares within certain industries. In the modern industrial world you believe it is our role in the trade unions to push for new job opportunities for people. This hap- pened, for instance, in the Westem World Can't you also see a lot of unemploy- ment and inequality where privatisa tion has been Introduced? see many such examples. al Assembly.
garians, for Turkish people, for Jewish people or for gypsies this will undermine the whole Even then, even if we become more suc- cessful in defending their rights, the behaviour of the Turkish population is very strange. If their leaders decide to leave the Bulgarian unions, all of them will leave. This is where trade union, social and political factors con- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 Turkish workers, they won't need to demonstrate real support for the But if the Confederation can set up unions of their own. trade union movement. main reason for the stagnation. We have to cial Democratic Party, the Alternative Socialist Party and the so-called radicals from the BSP and other smaller organisations came together Confederation set up a political organisation along the lines of the British Labour Party or took elements of the Israeli experience. The idea would not be to convert the trade unions tween the two giants, the BSP and UDF, is the The second option would be if we in the cemed, I think this strange confrontation be- One way of doing this would be if the So- think about creating a centre force. in the political centre. a question of economics but a very important level we have a lot of difficulties because of and after the Second World War. It is not just Bulgaria are not given support, this will provide fertile ground for populist and ex- We co-operate almost every day and act together in most industrial disputes at factory level. However, I have to say that at national What is your attitude to the Indepen the volatile positions of Podkrepa's leaders. Podkrepa? Do you co-operate? political question. If unemployed dent Confederation of Labour, tremist movements. Page 24
inflation has been increasing propelled demand has exceeded stagnating productive capacity. This inflation is all the more remarkable when you realise that the prices of most raw materials have decline, in cases by large amounts, during the This lies behind the catastrophic economic situation in most of the Third World. The 'boom' in the imperialist countries was on the back, not only of many workers in worldwide, reflecting the fact that debt- those countries, but especially of the poorest two-thirds of the people in halt. There have been two reasons for this. The