New Syndicalist Union in Bulgaria

Good to hear! Are you in contact with the BPRA?

Wonder why they went in one syndicalist direction and not another?

My guess (and it is purely a guess) is that there are some personal links as a result of Bulgarian workers going to Sweden for work. From an auto-translation of the link above:

After the formal establishment of the new Confederation, an agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance was signed with the Swedish Central Labor Organization.

Under the agreement, members of the new Confederation will receive trade union protection in Sweden without having to go through the heavy and costly procedure of membership in a Swedish syndicate. The aim of both trade unions is, through this first step, to work together towards the organization of seasonal workers and migrant workers in general so that they are not only able to defend their interests against employers but also to engage in the fight against the exploitation of transnational networks for labor migration as a whole.

That suggests to me that there have been some contact via this kind of seasonal work. Could be wrong, of course..

Makes sense on that level. I know the SAC helped Romanian workers with their Skåne Factory Workers Section union campaign (https://www.facebook.com/skanefactoryworkerssection/).
I also know that they were, I believe, a IWA "Friend" affiliate. With the IWA and affiliates being helpful with on-the-ground Bulgarian Autonomous Worker's Union struggles.

Google machine translation of the Bulgarian article linked above:

13:20 | May 23 | 2019

A new trade union organization will protect the interests of the workers
organization

A new organization - the Autonomous Workers' Confederation (ARK) was established by workers, representatives of autonomous trade unions from Sofia, Plovdiv, Vidin and Varna this weekend near the sea capital. Individual workers joined it.

The Presidents adopted the statutes and rules of the new organization, confirming in a document and the principles that will guide it, among which: "The Autonomous Workers Confederation is a trade union organization that is independent of state, business, political parties, foundations and foreign embassies.
The Autonomous Workers' Confederation is a class organization that is open to workers, unemployed, students and retirees - regardless of belief, sex, age, race, religion or ethnicity. The Autonomous Workers' Confederation rejects the union syndication and trade union bureaucracy. The internal organization, strategy and tactics of the trade union sections of the Confederation are based on self-organization of workers.

The Autonomous Workers' Confederation does not participate in the "trilateral" or other forms of "social dialogue" with employers and the state. The Autonomous Workers 'Confederation is a part of the international workers' movement and maintains links with related objectives and principles, groups and organizations. "

The immediate objectives set by the workers of the new Confederation are to assist other workers to organize themselves in their trade union sections and to establish a solidarity network for mutual assistance between the sections of the Autonomous Confederation and other struggle formal and informal trade unions and collectives: autonomous trade unions are not the only trade union organizations leading class struggle, but on the contrary, we look at our trade unions as part of the struggling organizations of the working class, along with many others.

confederacia2

That is why we aim to build relationships with other workers and trade unions. The goal is not everyone who struggles to protect the class interests of workers from joining an organization but rather to build a solidarity network of cooperation and coordination among all those who lead this struggle not in the interest of an organization , but in the interests of the workers as a whole. "

Among the immediate objectives, workers also set up mobilization of the organization's forces to help individual workers or groups of workers who have been the victims of unpaid wages, wrongful dismissals, and so on.

At the same time, the Confederation does not limit its goals to the workplace. Another part of the immediate goals that organized workers have set themselves are:

- immediate and non-arbitrary increase in income (wages, pensions, allowances, child allowances, etc.).
- reducing the retirement age and a new pension system.
- an immediate end to the trade in human health! Free and publicly available healthcare! Dignified payment of the work of the medical workers.
- free, secular and publicly available education.
- opposing the policy of cutting public spending, privatization, liberalization, deregulation, etc.
- socialization of all public services - electricity, water, steam, transport.

confederacia

As a key means of achieving the objectives and tasks set by the Confederation, they point to the strength of organized workers. At the head of the new confederation stands the fighter worker Piccadilly-Mergul Hasan. After the formal establishment of the new Confederation, an agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance was signed with the Swedish Central Labor Organization.

Under the agreement, members of the new Confederation will receive trade union protection in Sweden without having to go through the heavy and costly procedure of membership in a Swedish syndicate. The aim of both trade unions is, through this first step, to work together towards the organization of seasonal workers and migrant workers in general so that they are not only able to defend their interests against employers but also to engage in the fight against the exploitation of transnational networks for labor migration as a whole.

The new trade union organization is open to workers from all the cities and sectors determined to fight for their rights in the workplace and beyond.