Thousands of healthcare system employees protest in Bucharest

Thousands of employees of the Romanian public healthcare system joined a protest in Bucharest on Thursday, to express their dissatisfaction with the payroll law. The protest was organized by Sanitas federation and started at 11:00 in George Enescu square in Bucharest. At 12:00, the protesters started heading towards Victoriei Square, where the Government building is located. The members of the Sanitas federation said they were “extremely unhappy” with the current form of the payroll law, “which generates a lot of inequities and discrimination in the pay system of health and social assistance,” according to a press release from the federation, cited by local News.ro. The members of the Sanitas federation demanded, among others, the removal of the ceiling of 30% for health and social assistance benefits, the full implementation of wage increases for all health and social workers from March 1, 2018, and the cancelling of the proposed measure according to which the social contributions will be transferred from the employer to the employee because it will cancel the 25% salary increase stipulated by the payroll law. After this protest, the healthcare system employees consider a general strike. Thousands of employees from the health, police, and transport departments also protested in Bucharest earlier this month. They don't agree with the announced transfer of social contributions, as they believe that this measure will affect their net salaries. The Government plans to change the social contribution system in Romania and place the whole contribution on the employees starting January 1. The controversial measure has unsettled the business environment, and the employees who are afraid that their net wages will drop. However, finance minister Ionut Misa said in September that the Government will issue a directive obliging employers in the private sector to maintain a certain level of the gross salary after the social contributions are fully transferred to the employees. The measure will be temporary and is aimed at preserving the employees’ net wages. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com