Agricultural payments agency personnel take wage-cut protest to downtown Bucharest

Some 600 employees of the Agricultural Payments and Interventions Agency (APIA) from all over the country gathered on Wednesday in front of the Agriculture Ministry in Bucharest to protest the 30 percent cut of their salaries as of next year.

Equipped with the usual protest props — vuvuzelas and signs reading: "APIA, tight-knit unity!", "No "center — local splitting"", "Abide by law. APIA — a specialist body of public central administration", "Same job = same pay", "Respect us, don't crook us", "Not whining, but battling for our due rights" — the protesters are determined to vent their anger until 14:00 hrs today, hoping officials will hear them out in the end.

Octavian Mateescu, president of the APIA Trade Unions National Federation, told AGERPRES that some 500 — 600 people joined the manifestation.

"We are defending our pay rights. As you know, beginning January 1, our wages will go down by some 30 percent, specifically by 700 to 2,800 lei. My colleagues are very upset about these cuts and we hope that Mr. Minister of Agriculture [Petre Daea] and the government will listen to our grievances," Mateescu said.

Asked if they will hold discussions with government officials, he said he didn't know this yet, but that they will gladly sit down for talks if invited.

APIA employees from several counties have halted work since November 16 to protest the looming wage slump as of January 1, 2018, as an effect of the enforcement of OUG No. 79/2017 (the Wage Law).

The previous week Minister of Agriculture Petre Daea advised local APIA personnel to "keep quiet and do their job", because they get paid for their work.

Contacted by AGERPRES last week, APIA CEO Adrian Pintea said there is a draft OUG in the pipeline that would...