Bulgaria Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Totyu Mladenov, has stated Wednesday that the Greek textile company 'Bulfanko' will be taken to court by the Bulgarian state after “serious violations were found.”

Information from the recent examination by the Labor Inspectorate has already been imported to the Prosecutor’s Office, Mladenov is reported to have told the local Kardzhali municipality councilors.

The owner of ‘Bulfanko' stated on February 2 that his company will not pay the striking Bulgarian workers in the Southern Bulgarian town of Kardzhali their unpaid wages.

The workers had warned the factory owners that if their unpaid wages for the last 4 months were not paid immediately they would go on a full strike, which is now on. "We can not pay the bills, our families are starving," the protesters informed.

The workers have not been paid since October and were only paid 60% of their September wages on Christmas Eve – BGN 100-150. They have also not received their company meal vouchers for over 1 year and have insisted on a renewed collective work contract that expired in October 2009.

The Bulgarian labor inspectorate has also previously fined the Greek company BGN 24 000 for the unpaid wages – a fine the company is appealing against.