Romanian Public Servants Call Off Plans To Strike Wednesday

About 400 Romanian public servants picketed the Government headquarters last week and public administration unions were set to go on full-blown strike indefinitely starting May 5, over smaller salaries triggered by the new unitary wage law and planned layoffs in the sector.

Unionists, who have complained their wages were reduced by as much as 45% following the application of an IMF-required unitary wage law, said they have called off the strike and the Government has until May 21 to create a database, analyze and mend their situation.

Valer Suciu, leader of a national union representing public servants, said Finance and Labor Ministry officials have agreed to pull an order setting categories for public sector employees under the unitary wage law and set a calendar to centralize data and re-categorize employees.

"Then we expect a normative act to balance wages in public administration," Suciu said.

"We've suspended the strike until these commitments are met, but expect a full-blown strike after May 21 if the Government fails to keep its promises," Suciu added.

He also said public servants whose wages were lowered will get their money back as of end-May.

Labor Ministry state secretary Valentin Mocanu said a 45-day period has been agreed for the creation of a database, which will be used to re-categorize public sector employees.

"We're talking about 1.4 million public sector employees and such a database takes a while to complete," Mocanu said.

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