Railway Unionists Call For Romanian Transp Min Resignation

The representatives of six railway unions decided in a meeting Tuesday to ask for the resignation of the minister and the subsecretary of state "for the disastrous state of the railway and the absence of coherent strategies in this sector," union leader Gheorghe Popa told MEDIAFAX.

Popa said activity in the railway sector will be completely halted if funding shortages continue to exist, jeopardizing the safety of railway traffic, and if the payment of wages as stipulated in the collective labor contract is delayed by more than 48 hours.

Unionists also want the entire system free from political influence.

Union leader Ion Molea told MEDIAFAX that activity in the sector will be halted on September 30. The employees will come to work but will do nothing unless their salaries are paid on time.

Molea said the employees in the state-owned railway company get the lowest salaries among the companies where the state owns stakes, and wages are paid with delays of over two weeks.

Popa said it is regrettable that subsecretary of state Constantin Axinia threatens people that they will be sacked, adding that he understands the employees, pointing to the people that organized a spontaneous protest on Tuesday.

"It's regrettable that subsecretary of state Constantin Axinia threatens people that they will be dismissed, considering the economic situation they're undergoing. It's sad that we came to this point. I understand the people who earn only their wage, have debts to banks and have to protest in order to get their money," Popa said.

Popa said Axinia should have given a message of conciliation and shouldn't say that people will be sacked.

Axinia said the labor contracts of the employees who went on spontaneous strike on Tuesday and blocked several trains in Iasi, northearstern Romania, will be terminated.

The employees of CFR Iasi who organized a spontaneous protest on Tuesday morning, blocking 15 passenger trains and two freight trains in the county train stations resumed work at 11.30 am, after the management promised their salaries would be paid this afternoon.

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