Hundreds Picket Romania’s Govt HQ Over Planned Wage, Pension Cuts

About 100 others are picketing the presidential palace.

Romania has pledged to cut public sector wages by 25% and pensions and social benefits by 15% and has also promised to fire 70,000 state employees this year, to tighten its ballooning budget deficit and meet the terms of a EUR20 billion IMF-led loan it needs to navigate the recession.

A rally of about 60,000 people will take place Wednesday in Bucharest and the country’s major union confederations are to decide afterward whether the whole public sector is to go on full-blown strike. The opposition Social Democratic Party has said it endorses the protest and encouraged members to attend. They also said they would submit a no-confidence motion if the Government asks for a confidence vote in Parliament to adopt the austerity measures.

Teachers and public administration workers have already announced they are going on full-blown strike as of May 31 and healthcare workers are expected to join in the protest.

Romania’s Economic and Social Council, a body consisting of union and employers’ representatives and government officials, didn’t come to any conclusion Monday and neither endorsed nor rejected the draft letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund. Instead, union and employers’ representatives asked the Government to draft a new letter of intent and include their propositions, stressing they firmly disagree with the recently announced salary and pensions cuts.