UNION OF BREWERS IN BULGARIA WITH TWO AWARDS FROM MLSP
The Union of Brewers in Bulgaria (UBB) was awarded first place in the category "Human Resources" and second place in the category "Society" in the first competition for corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. Minister Georgi Gyokov presented the award for the contribution of the brewing organization in the development of social dialogue in the beer industry. The Minister especially emphasized the importance of the branch collective bargaining, as a best practice for cooperation between employers and trade unions.
For more than 20 years, the Union of Brewers and the trade unions of CITUB and KT Podkrepa have been signing branch collective labor agreements (BCLAs) every two years. It upgrades the labor legislation and reaches agreements for better working conditions and decent pay, development of human resources, quality jobs and other important benefits for all employees.
From 2009 until today, the collective branch agreements of the beer industry are the only ones in the country, which by Order of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy periodically extend to absolutely all beer and malt companies in the country. This has a positive effect on the 2150 people working in the sector, on their families and local communities. According to the National Social Security Institute, the average insurance income - AII, in the industry is always among the top seven highest in the country. In 2021 it is BGN 1860, and for specialists with higher education, who are nearly 60% of all employees, AII exceeds BGN 2300. Thanks to innovation, optimization of resources and the high level of competence of Bulgarian brewers, productivity labor, especially in large companies, is at the level of average European productivity indicators.
"It is a great achievement for us that in the conditions of a pandemic we not only kept, but even created new jobs in the last year. Most of the companies are making targeted efforts and despite the challenges of the environment, continue to invest in human resource development and increase the salaries of their employees. This week we start negotiations for the new BCLA for 2022 - 2023, so our first prize in the MLSP competition is a good incentive to expand social dialogue with new initiatives and social innovations," said Ivana Radomirova - Executive Director of UBB.
In the "Society" category in the MLSP competition, the Brewers' Union was awarded a plaque for second place with its project "Sport is the best way for children to grow up." The national campaign organizes sports, educational and creative initiatives for parents and children as a model for a healthy lifestyle, prevention and alternatives to alcohol abuse. All activities and donations are carried out with 100% funding from the UBB, through a target budget provided by the brewing companies that are members of the association. Under the motto of the project, over 360 sports, educational and consultative events were held with a total of 60 000 participants from 56 settlements in 20 districts of Bulgaria. The national recognition of the campaign was achieved by 1 250 000 people aged 15 to 68.
