Employees of the Hail Suppression Agency and the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture (EAFA) organized a protest this morning, blocking, for less than an hour, a key intersection on the Plovdiv-Haskovo road, on the approach to Popovo village.

The protest was organized by the Vonfederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria’s Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Agriculture. More than 100 people from the two agencies, coming from all over Bulgaria, demanded a 15% pay raise, and an immediate meeting with Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev. The protesters warned that unless their demands are met, more protests will follow, including strikes at their work stations which would jeopardize hail suppression this season in the months to come when active meteorological phenomena are expected and when the crops have not been harvested.  

Around 1,000 are employed at the Hail Suppression Agency, 780 of them launch the anti-hail rockets. Their gross monthly salary is 913 Leva (EUR 456), and they take home 760 Leva (EUR 380). The other employees are highly qualified physicists and engineers, with monthly salaries of 1,200 Leva (EUR 600). The salaries at the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture are approximately the same.