Unions prepare general stike

Romanian Trade Unions confederations such as BNS, Cartle Alfa, CNSLR Fratia, CSDR and CNS Meridian, announced during a news conference, on Friday, that they continue the industrial conflict with a token strike and a general strike, nationwide.

‘We express our disagreement with the proposal of altering Law 130/1996 on collective industrial actions. As a matter of fact, the alteration aims at annulling the rights the state budget-paid employees got through legal agreements and decisions, in time. By eliminating salaries, bonuses and other incomes from among negotiation objects, the Government practically wants to annul the trade unions’ right to negotiations and deny a basic right and tenet of the democratic society,’ said CNS Cartel Alfa president Bogdan Iuliu Hossu.

Because of the alteration, the trade unions in the public sector are making preparations to go on strike by the end of the year, says president of the Free Education Trade Unions Federation Aurel Cornea. The law alteration is not to the benefit of the employees of the budget sectors, such as justice, army, home affairs, who are paid according to special laws, CNSLR Fratia general secretary Sorin Stan stressed.

The national minimum salary negotiated by the trade unions and the employers’ associations having signed the single collective bargaining agreement is another topic making the unions go on strike. The unions say they have registered the industrial action, while the employers deny it, but the unions and the employers already met twice and talked about the minimal salary at the level of the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and Family.

The trade unions confederations reported on Friday they will talk with the unionists next week, and they expect a general strike by the end of the year. ROMPRES