Romanian Public Administration Workers On Full-Blown Strike As Of May 31

The National Federation of Unions in Administration, which represents over 50,000 public administration workers, said unionists will picket the Government headquarters Friday, May 14, will attend a 40,000-people rally scheduled in Bucharest for Wednesday and will go on full-fledged strike as of May 31.

Also as of May 31, Romanian teachers go on full-blown strike and healthcare workers have yet to decide whether they too would cease activity.

Romanian authorities announced drastic spending cuts and plan to fire 70,000 public workers this year. Romania is also set to slash public sector wages by 25% and pensions and social benefits by 15%. Meanwhile, although the flat tax and VAT remain unchanged, the Government is working on legislation to tax food vouchers, capital gains and increase property taxes.

Unionists announced they will resort to Greek-style protests over the cuts.

Over 1,000 Romanian pensioners picketed the Presidential Palace in Bucharest Wednesday and hundreds of retirees continued protests Thursday as well, calling on the president and government to resign over highly unpopular austerity measures he announced last week.

Recession-hit Romania, which is relying on a EUR20 billion IMF-led loan, has pledged drastic public spending cuts to rein in its deficit this year at 6.8% and restart its economy, which continued to contract in the first quarter, according to a flash estimate released by its statistics institute recently.

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