The sudden deaths of two workers at an Italian shoe factory in Bulgaria raised questions about working conditions in a Balkan state that aims to join the European Union in 2007.

Pavlinka Lyubenova, 37, a worker at the Euroshoes factory in the southern town of Doupnitza, died at her workplace after suffering a heart attack Monday. Her sister Rayna, 49, who worked at the same factory, died of a brain haemorrhage in early January. The company, which manufactures shoes for Italy, Germany and Britain, employs about 1,600 Bulgarian workers.

Following the two deaths, Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Emilia Maslarova summoned the company's Italian owner Claudio Marocchi to warn him Monday about working conditions at the factory, that may have contributed to the accidents.

"We have not established any direct link between the workers' deaths and working conditions. Still, our inspectors have found about twenty problems with the conditions at this enterprise," the director of the National Labour Inspectorate Totyu Mladenov told AFP.

Ventilation is insufficient given the concentration of harmful gases, workers are often made to work Saturdays, annual holidays are half those provided in the Labour Code and sick leave costs workers 20 percent of their salaries, he added.

Health problems have also persisted. "In 2002 thirty workers became ill after working with adhesives as the company ignored our instructions about poor ventilation," Mladenov added.

"We have operated this factory in Bulgaria for the past 14 years and the conditions here are not worse than elsewhere. They correspond to European standards. The adhesives used are the same as in Italy or Germany," Marocchi told AFP.

"We are saddened by the deaths of the two workers but they were not a result of their work. The incidents were exploited in order to smear the enterprise," added the owner, who has given pensions to the women's children.

Interviewed in private, a worker said she was "outraged by exaggerations in the press".

"Conditions are decent. This is one of the best employers you can find in our town where the chances of finding work are scarce," she added.

The left-wing Standart newspaper wrote of "the factory of death," while the mass-circulation 24 Hours reported "anyone can hire Bulgarian slaves."

Greek, Turkish and Italian textile and clothing companies exporting production to the EU often rely on Bulgaria's relatively cheap workforce.

"Workers officially receive the minimum salary of 160 leva (80 euros) and are paid social security instalments over that money. But they are paid additional money under the counter," said Todor Todorov of the left-wing trade union KNSB.

"In the textile and clothing factories that are usually located in regions with massive unemployment, trade unions are practically inexistent. We have seen cases of brutal exploitation at some of those places -- like in the 19th century," he added without mentioning any company by name.

In 2005, the Labour Inspectorate reported 200,000 irregularities in 35,000 Bulgarian and foreign companies, mainly in the construction, clothing and food industries.

Totyu Mladenov said his inspectors had problems with Greek textile companies in the south of the country around 2000.

"But they significantly improved the implementation of labour legislation following our inspections and the intervention of their ambassador," he said.

Mladenov also cited good examples among foreign investment companies, such as the Solvay Sodi chemical plant in eastern Bulgaria and a metallurgy plant to the west, both operated by Belgians. "Despite initial fines, the American owner of the Ideal Standard ceramic plant in central Bulgaria later thanked us for helping him understand Bulgarian legislation," Mladenov added.

Source: ITGLWF and AFP.