Machinists and welders: Miners are once again looking for new jobs

After unsuccessful attempts to retrain miners as technicians, foresters, renewable energy equipment installers, etc., the state-owned company Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD has once again issued orders in search of "new" professions for those employed in the mines – this time as machinists and welders.

The tenders, published on August 28, are for the acquisition of professional qualifications and legal capacity in railway transport professions and part of the welding profession. This time, they cover fewer workers – a total of 286 people for the two specialties, while in previous procedures there were nearly 1,000.

Under the first order for "acquiring professional qualifications and legal capacity in railway transport professions," a total of 78 people can acquire new skills. Under this order, 26 of the mine employees will be able to retrain as "Railway Infrastructure Operations Organizers," specializing in "Traffic Management" (960 hours), 26 as locomotive engineers (600 hours), and 26 as carriage inspectors (600 hours). The cost of these training courses, as specified in the tender, is BGN 144,000.

The second procedure is for "acquiring professional qualifications and legal capacity in part of the profession of "Welder". A total of 208 workers from Mini Maritsa East can participate in it – 104 for manual arc welding, 78 for gas-oxygen welding, and 26 for MAG welding. The amount provided for retraining is BGN 109,000.

In the grounds for the second tender, Mini Maritsa Iztok has included several additional clauses requesting a longer payment period for the contractor and reserving the right to unilaterally postpone (suspend) the performance of the contract for a period of one year. The state-owned company cites its financial difficulties as the reasons for this. The document adds that the funds provided for and approved by the National Assembly in April 2024 have not been received by the company. This concerns the promised BGN 250 million per year to Mini Maritsa East for the period 2024-2028, which was awaiting approval from the European Commission.

The funds for the two new orders are under the procedure "Support for workers in affected sectors through training for qualification and retraining" under the European Union's Regional Development Program 2021 – 2027, which finances the training of workers in sectors affected by the transition.

The results of a study on the available skills and attitudes towards development of employees in thermal power plants and coal mines in the regions of Stara Zagora, Kyustendil, and Pernik were recently released. In Stara Zagora, over 60% of workers have expressed their willingness to retrain and participate in training courses. The analysis also showed that a significant proportion of workers in the affected regions have technical or engineering qualifications – professions that are in high demand in sectors such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, and digital technologies.

This is yet another attempt by state ministers to find companies to take on the retraining of employees. Some of the public procurement contracts announced in May, or specific positions within them related to the provision of training courses for employees of Mini Maritsa East, were terminated because they will be carried out by the company's vocational training center, while no candidates were found for the rest. There were no candidates for training courses in entrepreneurship, business services assistant, ceramics production worker, silicate production technologist, chemical operator, chemical technologist, forester, etc.

The future of jobs and prospects for those employed in the energy sector, including opportunities for retraining and entering new industries related to the energy transition, will be the focus of the regional career forum in Stara Zagora.

The event is organized by Brand Media Bulgaria and will take place from September 11 to 13, 2025, at the Zahari Knyazheski Regional Library. The forum will bring together representatives of business, institutions, and the local community to discuss the challenges and prospects for those employed in the region.

Translated with DeepL.

Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. The European Union cannot be held responsible for them.