Foresters are protesting on Friday in front of the Government, alongside the railway workers, soldiers, miners, policemen, steel workers, energy workers and other professional categories, asking for the urgent modification of the law on the public pension system and the withdrawal from Parliament of the draft law regarding the Forestry Code, informs the Silva Federation of Trade Unions in the Forestry Sector, inform agerpres.ro.
They ask for the urgent modification of Law no. 360/2023 on the public pension system, which repealed from the Forestry Personnel Statute (OG 59/2000) the classification of jobs for forestry personnel carrying out activities under special conditions (former group I) guarding the forest fund, the hunting and fishing funds, the natural protected areas etc. The previous inclusion in the special conditions category made it possible to reduce the retirement age for field forestry personnel by one year for every 5 years worked in such conditions, according to Law no. 234/2019.
The representatives of the union argue that the modification of the law is needed because the "forestry activities require special physical effort, carried out in rough terrain conditions, special atmospheric conditions (very high or very low temperatures, rain, snow, extreme weather phenomena), and also harmful conditions (attacks by bears and other wild animals, as well as numerous attacks by criminals caught in the forest), which often put the lives of the forestry personnel in danger.
"The activity of guarding the forests is often carried out in extreme conditions of risk, as 6 foresters have been killed and more than 750 foresters have become victims of aggressors caught while they were illegally cutting, stealing wood, or poaching in the recent years. The existing statistics at the level of the forestry sector in Romania show that the average life expectancy in forestry does not exceed the age of 63, which is the lowest life expectancy in the European Union, in the context in which the standard retirement age is 65," stated the trade union organization.
According to the same source, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests addressed a letter to the Chamber of Deputies, requesting the analysis of the draft law on the Forestry Code in the specialized committees and its speedy approval in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies.
"The elimination of fiscal-budgetary measures from Law no. 296/2023 lead to the reduction of employees' incomes and violates the rights negotiated through collective labour contracts (meal vouchers, vacation vouchers, compensation for collective layoffs, conditioning and limitation of salaries depending on the employer's profitability etc)," claim the trade unionists.
The representatives of the Federation of Silva Trade Unions say that they will continue to support, by all legal means, the rights of the forestry workers, including by organizing new protest actions.
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