Romanian President Asks Parliament To Reexamine Govt Ordinance On Bonuses

The law sent back by the President says that the employees of public authorities or institutions financed exclusively from the state budget, who receive other wage rights as per Government Ordinance 92/2003 on the Fiscal procedure Code, „shall receive base salaries computed by including the 2009 average value of these wage rights, provided according to category, class and professional rank, or education.”

The President holds that funds such as those referred to by this section, provided by withholding sums destined to constitute revenue for the state budget, can be the source of imbalance and inequality as regards the collection and distribution of budget funds. „We believe it is necessary to repeal the legal provisions creating such funds and depriving the state budget of revenue for the purposes of motivating employees to carry out their duties,” says the re-examination request.

The President adds that Law 330/2009 on the public sector unitary wage system says central public administration employees must be integrated into the same wage grid. „Taking this aspect into account, we believe the personnel referred to by the law sent for promulgation must enjoy the same provisions and the same salary rights as the personnel of the other institutions and authorities of the central public administration,” the President concludes.

The Chamber of Deputies approved the Ordinance in question on October 19, with 209 votes for, 12 against and 66 abstentions. A few days before the vote, Labor Minister Ioan Botis welcomed the amendment whereby the average of bonuses granted in 2009 would be included in the gross salary, as this would increase the public servants’ monthly income.

A week before the vote, around 200 Finance Ministry employees staged a spontaneous protest, demanding the payment of their bonuses. More than 500 employees of Bucharest’s public finance administrations and the Treasury rallied in front of the Ministry the same day. The protests soon extended to the entire country, with thousands of employees of local financial administrations, Treasury offices, pension houses, employment agencies, health insurance and social assistance houses, and libraries stopping work as a sign of solidarity with the Finance Ministry’s personnel.