Unions at large oil companies team up to protest Romanian Govt.’s tax measures

The unions of large oil and chemical companies, including Rompetrol, Lukoil, Michelin, OMV Petrom, and Azomures will team up to protest the Government’s recent tax measures. In total, unions at 12 companies, which are part of the Chemistry-Petrochemistry National Federation, have decided to take action to abolish the emergency ordinance fully transferring the payment of social contributions to employees, reports Profit.ro. The federation argues that the tax measures will lead to a 17% drop in the employees’ net salaries in the private system. The effects will be similar to the 25% cut in the wages of public sector employees in 2010. Companies should increase gross wages by 19.9% so that the net salaries remain at the same value following the transfer of social contributions, according to Deloitte Romania director Radu Derscariu. OMV Petrom announced last week that it would talk to the union to change the collective labor contract so that its employees maintain their net salaries after the fiscal changes come into force. editor@romania-insider.com