For a second year in a row, in September 2018, the Federation of transport trade unions in Bulgaria (FTTUB) took part in the European mobility week (EMW) with a second wave of ‘Our Public Transport’ campaign – which FTTUB develops in Bulgaria since 1 May 2017.
Last year, we introduced the OPT campaign to the wider trade union movement during CITUB’s 8th congress, which was attended by delegates from all industrial sectors in Bulgaria; and honored by guests from ITUC – the Deputy Secretary-General Jaap Wienen; and the European Economic and Social Council – Georges Dassis, president of the Workers’ Group at EESC. OPT was presented at the conference “A Future for Labor, a Future for Young People in Europe” organized by the International Youth Forum in Sofia. Later on, during EMW 2017 in September, we worked in partnership with Sofia municipality and the local public transport companies (bus, tram and trolley, metro and urban mobility centre) to draw the attention of the citizens of Sofia to the important role and the benefits of a publicly owned urban transport. At the open-door days during EMW 2017 for each company, FTTUB brought the spotlight on the transport workers. Citizens had the chance to experience first-hand our jobs at our workplaces and thus better appreciate our role as the people who give life to OPT. We also presented the results of a survey we have conducted proving that an increase in the number of women drivers leads to an improved working environment, better service for passengers and more profits for the companies in the entire urban transport sector.
In 2018, we opened our OPT campaign to other big cities in Bulgaria, and used the EMW 2018 to once more draw public attention towards public transport.
