Over 20,000 unionists plan September 22 protest in Bucharest

Over 20,000 unionists affiliated with Romanian Union Federation CNSLR-Fratia will take part in a rally in Bucharest on Wednesday, September 22, protesting against public sector wage cuts and harsh austerity measures, union leader Marius Petcu said Monday. The rally will be held on the same day as the rally planned by healthcare unionists and the federation has called on the country's other large union confederations to join the protest. Unionists push for a minimum wage of at least 750 lei (EUR 176), demanding that wage levels return to those in 2009, that layoff plans be scrapped and the Labor Code be kept in its current form. Romania has slashed public wages by 25 percent in July in order to meet the conditions of a EUR20 billion IMF-led bailout loan it needs to navigate the recession. The Government has also pledged to fire over 70,000 public workers this year alone. Mediafax