Romanian city hall employees start protests with warning strike, plan general strike this month

The members of the National Federation of Unions in Public Administration (FNSA) have started a series of protests on Tuesday morning, July 5, with a warning strike. Thus, 30,000 city hall and county council employees in Romania have stopped work for one hour this morning. The one-hour strike was a “sign of protest against the unfair wage policies on remuneration and rights of local public administration employees compared to those working in the central government,” reads an FNSA statement. The central public administration employees have benefited from wage increases of up to 70%, according to the Federation. Meanwhile, “most of the city hall and county council employees have gross wage earnings similar or close to the gross minimum wage per economy (RON 1,250 from May 1, 2016).” This is the first form of protest from the calendar of actions drawn up after FNSA triggered the collective labor conflict at a national level. No consensus was reached at the meeting between the Federation and representatives of the Labor Minister, organized on June 27, FNSA announced in a previous statement. Some of FNSA’s claims include: food norms for all local public administration employees (where the budget resources allow it), holiday vouchers for the employees, and a 25% salary increase for civil servants and the contractual staff. In case the FNSA’s claims aren’t met, the Federation members will continue the protests with a one-day strike on July 12 and a general strike on July 19. Romania has EUR 658 mln to improve its public administration Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com