Thousands Of Romanian Public Sector Workers Rallied Outside Govt Wednesday

Union leaders called on protesters not to vote in the presidential elections on November 22 unless authorities start taking them seriously and work to fix their problems.

Unions expected about 20,000 people to join the protest, but gendarmes said there were only some 12,000 demonstrators and the rally ended an hour earlier, as people started leaving shortly after noon. Authorities said the protest ended without any incidents.

On Monday, hundreds of thousands of teachers, medical staff and other public workers staged a one-day strike.

Protests come at a time when Romania has pledged drastic spending cuts in the public sector following an agreement for an IMF-led financial rescue package of nearly EUR20 billion.

Besides a deepening recession, the country is also faced with political turmoil, as social democrats left the government last week and switched to opposition and are now backing a no-confidence motion which seeks to overthrow the government less than two months before presidential elections.

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