'Meridian' trade unionists from almost all economic sectors protest to air long list of grievances

Members of the 'Meridian' National Trade Union Confederation (CSN) branches from almost all economic sectors are protesting on Wednesday in front of the government headquarters, demanding the observance of the rule of law and of the laws adopted by Parliament, as well as the settlement of social grievances that have been repeatedly put forward to the competent authorities yet without effect.

People are rallying because they are fed up with the many hardships they face, and the list of demands is long, CSN Meridian vice-president Maxim Rodrigo told AGERPRES.

The Romanians are struggling with crushing bills, as inflation and the high prices for basics, electricity and heat, or for mandatory insurance make it hard for people who live just on an honestly earned salary or a pension to make ends meet.

Labor law is lopsided and discourages the association of workers in trade unions and the employment of youth in the country, and the legal structure of industrial relations favors the interests of multinational companies to the detriment of the workers and society at large.

"Labor legislation has become optional for the managers of certain state-owned companies (who may even no longer be in office, but the companies bear the negative consequences of their previous decisions), given that, encouraged by the previous government, they proceeded to cutting wage benefits set forth in the Individual Employment Contracts without any logic or grounded justification, while at the same time continuing to make unjustified and unnecessary expenses that do not help the post-COVID recovery in any way," the unions say.

The protesters' top grievance is the observance of Law No. 53/2003 - Labor Code, as subsequently amended and supplemented - which governs the labor relations between employees and employers.

They also demand the increase of the minimum gross guaranteed wage for all social and professional categories to 3,000 RON, similar to the provisions for construction and agriculture workers, the adjustment of all wages and pensions to real inflation, the promotion of a new trade union law that meets Romania's status as a EU member state, because the Social Dialogue Law No. 62/2011 has been blocking collective bargaining in Romania for 11 years now, virtually abolishing negotiations at national and sectoral level, as well as the trade union movement; establishing a single sectoral reference wage for all categories of employees, which are currently discriminated compared to the magistrates; setting in place a unitary wage grid for local public administration employees. AGERPRES