Romanian unions protest against government measures and set up crisis committee

National Trade Union Confederation “Cartel ALFA”, National Confederation of Free Trade Union - Fratia, Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions from Romania, National Trade Union Block, National Trade Union Confederation “Meridian”, following the declaration of Mr. President Traian Basescu from the evening of 6-th of May, decided to set up a CRISIS COMMITTEE.

The Government and the President uphold the application, through the memorandum with UE and IMF, of the following measures:

• reducing the pensions with 15%
• reducing the individual income of the employees from the budgetary sector with 25%
• reducing with 25% the minim income for the budgetary sector
• diminishing with 15% the unemployment benefit
• taxation of the restaurant tickets
• reducing massively the subventions, specially for the rural sector
• reducing massively the social benefits with an average of 15%
• stopping a part of the social programs, which are now in the developing stage
• 250.000 dismissals in the budgetary sector
• closing down 200 hospitals
• closing down hundreds of schools in order to reduce the general costs
• blocking the procedure of retirement in advance and reducing the retirements for reasons of invalidity
• taxation of the savings from the personal bank accounts
• changing the Labour Code in order to make more flexible the dismissals, changing the Collective Agreement Law in order to make the salaries more flexible.

Until finding a solution for the conflict situation arisen, the Crisis Committee of the five trade union confederations decided, as a first form of protest, to withdraw the trade union representatives from all the tripartite bodies.
Following all these measures, considered as unacceptable, National Trade Union Confederation “Cartel ALFA”, National Confederation of Free Trade Union - Fratia, Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions from Romania, National Trade Union Block, National Trade Union Confederation “Meridian” have settled and announced the calendar of the protest actions.

1. There have been doing pickets around the Presidential Headquarter and the Government Siege, as follows:
Thursday – 13-th of May , Friday 14-th of May, Monday 17-th of May, Tuesday 18-th of May - pickets of the Government Siege (between 10.00 - 12.00 hours) and pickets of the Presidential Headquarter (between 9.30 - 11.30 hours);

2. PROTEST MEETING of the five trade union confederations in Piaţa Victoriei (Victory Square), in front of the Government building.
The mass meeting it is scheduled for WEDNESDAY, 19-th of May, between 11.00 - 13.00 h.

/Cartel-Alfa