Employees of roughly 280 city and town halls across the country staged a two-hour warning strike on Tuesday, between 10:00 and 12:00, with local government union members protesting the Bolojan Government's planned reform package, which they say threatens jobs, salaries and the functioning of rural administrations.
"The strike is organized by the National Trade Union SCOR, it is the result of an internal vote in our structures and, with only a few abstentions, there is unanimity in organizing it. The action is taking place in all the mayoralties where we have union organizations - 1,370 mayoralties. We expect solidarity actions even in those not affiliated with our union," SCOR president Dan Carlan told AGERPRES ahead of the protest.
The executive president of the National Union 'Solidarity of Municipalities and Cities in Romania' (SNSCOR) Stefan Sbiera said the protest is an alarm signal to the government, warning that local administration cannot be treated superficially.
"The protest is the howl of the local public administration at commune level. We are not tenants' associations. Stop treating us like numbers. It is one thing to administer three blocks in central Iasi city with a thousand inhabitants, and another to administer a commune with the same population but 7,000 - 8,000 hectares where you must bring water, sewerage, electricity, build roads and even a gas network, because we cannot set trees on fire," Sbiera said.
According to him, Tuesday's action was intended as a warning strike, a step preceding a potential general strike if the government does not reconsider the reform package.
Staff in communes from the counties of Buzau, Salaj, Vrancea, Arad, Harghita, Cluj, Timis Olt, Galati, Braila, Gorj, Dolj, Mehedinti and other counties suspended work with the public between 10:00 and 12:00, although employees remained at their desks.
Their main grievances include the planned 30% cut in staffing levels, on top of a 10% reduction already applied last year, along with the possibility of unilaterally reducing full-time positions to part-time, a measure widely referred to by unionists as the "half-man" system. Employees also oppose the creation of a lower-paid salary grid for poorer communes, which they call discriminatory, and warn that many town halls already pay wages "at the level of an unskilled worker".
Union leaders argue the reforms would deepen inequalities between localities and risk pushing small communes into administrative paralysis.
"This is a turning point in local public administration ... The package violates constitutional rights," said Adrian Marin of SCOR Buzau.
"A 30% cut would lead to a major staff shortage," added Angela Oroian from Salaj.
"After this reform is adopted, we could practically enter an administrative collapse," warned Mihaela Monica Ionescu from SCOR Prahova.
In Vrancea, where around 600 employees from 46 communes joined the protest, union leader Liliana Ciocarlan said workers fear losing income if their hours are halved: "We cannot tell colleagues with loans and children that they will suddenly work four hours."
Other counties echoed concerns about frozen salaries, increased workload, and the lack of a new unified salary law, which employees say has been delayed for years.
The warning strike was coordinated by the National Union Solidarity of Communes and Cities in Romania (SCOR), which announced that further actions will depend on the Government's next steps.
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