The cigarette factory in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, is run by Bulgartabac, the country's state-owned tobacco monopoly, and it will cease operation on 12 May.

This comes in accordance with the decision of February 2008 by the Governing Board of Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac to close down two of its four factories, the ones in Plovdiv and Stara Zagora.
The workers of the Plovdiv cigarette factory have accepted the decision after dramatic negotiations in which each of them was promised to receive 1,8 gross monthly salaries for each year they have worked at the plant.
The company management has not notified the employees whether the factory was going to be privatised quickly by selling its assets on the stock market, which was planned two months ago. (ci)