Bulgaria miners return to work after bonus deal

Miners at Bulgaria’s largest coal mining company, the state-owned Mini Maritsa Iztok, have gone back to work after winning at least part of the bonus they had been promised.

The 7,000 miners at the company began their strike on 15 January calling for payment of a 1,000 lev bonus (about €500), which they said they were owed for beating production targets in 2011.

The strike, which was overwhelmingly supported, lasted for a week, and forced the country temporarily to end its electricity exports and to prepare for power shortages.

After dropping an attempt to have the strike declared illegal and failing to buy the workers off by bringing forward their wages for this year, the company settled on 22 January.

Under the terms of the deal, the miners receive a 300 lev (€150) bonus for last year.

The negotiators, who included the leaders of Bulgaria’s two largest union confederations, KNSB and Podkrepa, declared themselves satisfied.