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The National Trade Union Bloc (BNS) sent on Monday, March 13, a debriefing to the European Commission on the unequal policies implemented by the Romanian state in terms of income, taxation and social welfare, informs a press release of the trade union organization.
According to the source, the minimum inclusion income has increased by 17 percent, while inflation stands at 35 percent. At the same time, the reference social indicator is 598 RON, instead of 885 RON as it should be at present, union representatives say.
"Our country continues to invest extremely little and without any targets in the future of the workforce, whether we are referring to the short and medium-term future of the current workforce or to the future workforce that is now at the end of its education cycle or still in the education system. Opportunities are not at all equal for children in rural areas or for children from poor families, Roma families or single parent families. And when investments are actually made, social welfare tools not correlated with each other are adopted and implemented, measures are adopted by institutions from different levels that fail to coordinate their interventions," the press release states.
The trade unionists argue that continuing to maintain such a large gap with the EU average only "throws Romania's human resources into an area lacking opportunities, a pool of cheap labour for unskilled work abroad or for minimum wage jobs at home".
"The high level of inequality is accentuated by Romania's income, tax and welfare policies. Any approach to rebalancing this situation has been consistently refused," the document adds.
According to the trade unionists, the Romanian authorities chose "to increase the minimum wage and salaries in the budgetary sector, while the rest did not matter".
According to the cited source, the authorities are willing to take measures as long as they do not disturb the interests of the business environment or the interests of the political class.
The BNS representatives believe that "precisely because inequality is quasi-present in Romania", the positive evolution of some indicators often corresponds only to a small extent with the reality.AGERPRES
