Around 2000 workers of the Kremikovtzi steel mill gathered on April 15 for protests, Bulgarian daily Dnevnik said.
Workers protested because they have not yet received salaries for February and March of this year, as well as daily food allowances since November 2007.

Lyudmil Pavlod, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB), told Bulgarian news agency (BTA) that a quick resolution of the ownership dispute was needed.

Vassil Yanachkov of KNSB said that if a new owner for the steel mill was not announced by week-end, protests would "expand to include all of Sofia and reach parliament." Yanachkov said that Kremikovtzi was on the verge of insolvency and needed an injection of 50 million leva working capital.

Management of Kremikovtzi said salaries and food allowances would be paid out before the Easter holidays at the end of this month.

Yanachkov told Bulgarian new agency (BTA) that Ukranian investor Konstantin Zhevago had sent a letter to President Georgi Purvanov confirming his interest to purchase the steel mill.