Romanian Public Servants Might Discard Full-Blown Strike If Govt Meets Their Demands

Unionists with the National Federation of Unions in Public Administration will meet Thursday with officials of the country’s Labor, Finance, Justice and Administration Ministries for talks on nagging issues for public servants, namely, smaller salaries triggered by the new unitary wage law and planned layoffs in the sector.

Unionists said government officials should start doing something, instead of inviting them to negotiations without finding a way to meet their demands.

The public servants who are picketing the Government’s headquarters on Thursday are disgruntled that the new unitary wage law reduced their salaries by 45% and that they will soon face layoffs in the sector.

Union leader Valer Suciu said Wednesday that the Government infringed the law, disregarded court rulings and breached collective work contracts.

Suciu stressed that, in 2008, new hirings were made only in the central administration, adding the number of employees in the local administration increased in 2008 not due to new employments but because local institutions took over a series of activities from the central administration.

According to Suciu, the country’s local administration sector is currently faced with a lack of personnel.