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Emergency Ordinance No. 82/2017 complementing and amending specific regulatory acts, which ushers in a set of derogations to the Social Dialogue Law was adopted in a completely non-transparent manner, as there has been no dialogue with the representative employers' confederations, and given that new obligations are being established for all of Romania's private-sector employers; moreover, the piece of legislation is not signed by the Minister for Social Dialogue Gabriel Petrea, argue the representatives of the National Council of Small and Medium-sized Private Enterprises Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR) in a release to AGERPRES.
"It follows that SMEs with less than 21 employees, which have never had collective bargaining and are not familiar with such procedure, are compelled to start negotiations to enforce OUG No. 79/2017," the release states.
Also, the units that have collective labor agreements in place are obliged to resume negotiations for the implementation of OUG No.79 / 2017.
"This requirement runs counter to the parties' agreement of will as they have already signed a collective labor contract, which is in effect and produces effects. Practically this serves the employees a reason to go on strike, considering the negotiations for the inclusion in the collective agreements of the provisions of OUG No. 79/2017. The one-month deadline set forth for unfolding collective bargaining, between November 20 - December 20 is a forced one, having in view that Law No. 62/2011 provides for a term of 60 calendar days, which can be extended by agreement of the parties," CNIPMMR representatives say.
According to them, OUG No. 82/2017 introduces provisions that violate the will of the employees who do not want to set up a unit trade union, even unrepresentative or affiliated to a representative trade union federation, establishing that only members of a sector-representative trade union federation can participate in negotiations, on the basis of the mandate entrusted to them, together with employees' representatives, instead of the negotiation taking place with the elected representatives of the employees, as provided for by Law No. 62/2011.
"Moreover, representatives of trade union confederations are added to the process of negotiation, along with employees' representatives, in enterprises where there is no established trade union," the release goes on, adding that from the "inconsistent wording" of OUG No. 82/2017 it follows that employers and employees can negotiate any aspect included in OUG No. 79/2017, and not just those related to the transfer of contributions from the employer to the employee.
"The approval, in absence of any social dialogue, of OUG No. 82/2017 introducing exceptions to Law No. 62/2011, establishing new obligations for SMEs as regards the collective bargaining, is in violation of the will of the parties where collective bargaining agreements are in place, as it requires the parties to renegotiate; in conjunction with the fact that the OUG is not signed by the Minister for Social Dialogue, Mr. Gabriel Petrea, who is competent for implementing Law No. 62/2011, this shows the government's desperation to find unrealistic solutions to the issues caused by the transfer of contributions from the employer to the employee. A further reason for not adopting this measure is given by the fact that the working group for the amendment of Law No.62 / 2011, made of government, employers' organizations and trade union representatives, is active in this period, and the government representatives have not informed their social partners about any plans to introduce derogations to the Social Dialogue Law. The new ordinance violates the provisions of Law No. 346/2004 on SMEs, which expressly provides for the obligation to conduct the SME Test in order to find out how the new provisions would impact the SMEs," argues CNIPMMR president Florin Jianu. AGERPRES.
