Romanian ArcelorMittal Galati Employees Start General Strike

A few thousand employees with steel pipe maker ArcelorMittal Galati went on general strike Monday morning, protesting against the salary raise proposed by the company’s management.

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Gheorghe Tiber, head of the Romanian Solidaritatea Union, said they gathered 3,800 signatures to start the strike, stressing, however, there could be fewer employees actually backing the strike, considering the pressures made by the management.

Marcel Mititelu, leader of the Solidaritatea Union with steel plant Siderurgica Hunedoara, western Romania, also joined the protests and even put himself in chains in a desperate attempt to prove he is “a slave for ArcelorMittal.”

The Solidaritatea unionists urged the management to double employees’ wages, saying they will not accept a wage raise lower than RON280, while the management’s latest offer targets a 9.5% raise, but no less than RON100.

The Union Friday notified ArcelorMittal Galati management that it would call general strike Monday morning, starting 06.30 local time.

The notification Tiber sent Friday afternoon to the management said the Union decided to call strike throughout the entire ArcelorMittal Galati unit, indefinitely, starting with Monday, April 14, 2008, 06.30 local time, if the claims forwarded in the latest rounds of negotiations are not satisfied.

Two of the four union groups present at negotiations have already agreed with the latest proposition issued by management. The Union Federation of Steel Workers (FSS) Metarom and the Territorial Association of Free Unions (UTSL), which represent 8500, respectively 700 employees, Wednesday signed an additional act to the Collective Labor Contract.

The most important provisions in the accepted offer refer to a wage raise of 9.5%, but no less than RON100, the removal of categories I and II, the lowest categories for skilled workers, and the payment of former category I and II employees on a category III level, which means a salary leap from RON610, the gross sum received at category I, to RON832 currently paid to category III. In addition, the minimal employment wage for people with college degrees will be RON1,256, while another 1,400 employees will go to an upper class, which adds an additional 5% to their wages.

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