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Bank sector partners met in Sofia, Bulgaria to discuss how social dialogue can promote life-long learning in the sector in Bulgaria and other CEE countries. As an overwhelming share of banking in these countries lies in the hands of multinational companies, social partners want to link the European level of social dialogue to the existing structure at national and corporate levels.



In Bulgaria, no formal social dialogue covering the entire sector exists and collective bargaining takes place only at company level. The workshop aimed to encourage Bulgarian social partners to build up a dialogue on a national scale, but also to participate in European social dialogue.



Speakers from both the employers’ side as well as the trade union side emphasised the importance of continuous training, especially in a sector which is still at the heart of the financial and economic crisis. Bank sector social partners at European level agreed on the need for continuous education many years ago, as speakers from the employers’ side mentioned. Social dialogue should support this aim.



Speakers from the trade unions welcomed this commitment and voiced their concerns over the gaps which still exist in Europe due to unfair competition and the different levels of labour costs in CEE countries. They also wanted to ensure that multinational companies did not respect labour rights any less in CEE countries than in “Western Europe”.



The workshop took place on 26 and 27 June 2013 with the financial funding of the European Commission, under the framework of the "Life Long Learning project: follow up of the joint declaration and promotion of the EU sectoral social dialogue" .