More than 600 workers from Rousse Shipyards refused to go to work on June 29.

Syndicate leader Hristo Yordanov's official explanation is that this is a protest against two months' unpaid salaries, Dnevnik has reported.

"You can interpret this as employees' unrest if you want," Yordanov said. "We have undertaken all measures for this to be a proper strike, in accordance with regulations. However, workers have had delayed payments for months now, and they simply can't take the pressure anymore."

Negotiations are currently being conducted with the company's management, whereas the syndicate leaders will meet on June 30 with the owners of Rousse Shipyards. Yordanov has revealed that there was a proposal by management poised to provide a resolution to the problem but this was subsequently rejected by the workers and the syndicate.

Rousse Shipyards released its entire workforce in April 2009 on a 10-day unpaid leave. The temporary halt in operations was put down to the postponement of delivery in raw materials to the company. At the time, employees also protested because, in addition to the unpaid leave, they claim they had not been paid for previous months.

On April 27, the company announced that 800 people are directly employed by the shipyard, but, in total, more than 1200 people will be affected – including auxiliary services and companies, support and logistical personnel.

The shipyard, Rousse Shipyard Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH, is a German-owned firm. One of the company's executives, Johan Breme, arrived in Rousse on April 16 in an attempt to defuse the escalating tension that arose from unpaid salaries. According to unofficial information, the trouble emerged for the first time at the turn of 2009 because of a failed bank credit.

It appears that Johan Breme was unable to resolve the issues in April and the tension in the company continues.