Bucharest metro employees likely to go on strike as negotiations fail

A strike at the Bucharest metro is possible in the coming days, after the negotiations between the trade union and Metrorex, the metro system operator owned by the Ministry of Transport, failed. Employees’ leader Ioan Radoi claims that the trade union halved its request from 42% wage hike to 21%, but the ministry accepted to pay only 18% higher wages, local Adevarul reported. Furthermore, the replacement of the transport minister remained in limbo after outgoing minister Lucian Sova resigned but President Klaus Iohannis has not appointed yet the candidate nominated by the ruling coalition. At the end of November, the Bucharest Court ruled as illegal the strike initiated by the trade union at Bucharest metro. Sova accused union leaders that they didn't argue in favour of the employees, but wanted to preserve their own benefits. A large part of the money paid by small businesses that rent retail space in subway stations go to the trade union and is spent to the benefit of union leaders, Sova implied. editor@romania-insider.com