Bulgaria : trade unions and employers‘ organizations reject social aspects of the budget 2015

After 20 months of political instability, Bulgaria’s new government has met one of its priorities in preparing the law on the 2015 state budget. The draft law was announced two weeks ago and looks to raise the minimum wage either by 11.7% or by 40 BGN (20 euros), extend retirement age by 4 months, and also extend the required period for pension contributions.
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The social partners strongly contested these draft provisions. The trade unions sharply rejected the pensions provisions (extension of retirement age and extension of contributions period) that will apply to most employees. Currently the legal retirement age is 63 years and 8 months for men and 60 years and 8 months for women. The new provisions will see these rise to 65 years for men in 2018 and 64 years for women in 2025. The contribution period is currently 37 years and 8 months for men and

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