Cartel Alfa urges National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue be mustered, to cancel social conflicts

The Cartel Alfa National Trade Union Confederation announced that it has demanded for an emergency mustering of the National Tripartite Council of Social Dialogue as a minimal condition with a view to cancel the open social conflicts that might trigger following the adoption of the OUG (Government Emergency Ordinance, ed. n.) 144/2018, a press release by the CNS Cartel Alfa sent to AGERPRES reads.

"The gov't, through total lack of social dialogue, through disdain towards the law and the citizens, is directly responsible for the future social conflicts. A part of the federations members of the CNS Cartel Alfa have already kicked off the internal consultation process to organising protest forms at the very beginning of 2019 and the process will get broader considering the deep dissatisfaction of our members in almost all fields of activity," the trade union's officials say.

According to CNS Cartel Alfa, by endorsing the OUG 144/2018, the gov't once again thinks only of the elected, and not of the citizens. The trade unionists condemn the fact that the OUG 144/2018, adopted around the winter holidays and with no previous consultation with its social partners comprises measures to freeze the rights of the other categories of public servants. The CNS Cartel Alfa maintains that the elected and the persons with the leadership of the public authorities are the only category of public servants the salaries of whom are automatically growing, with each increase of the minimum wage, which is a discrimination against the other public employees.

"If there is budget constraints, then the first measure must be to eliminate the privileges, the abusive special pensions, the capping of the special indemnities and not the cutting from the employees' salaries who work on shifts to cover the huge staff shortage or under stressful, dangerous and risky working conditions," the trade union's release says.

Another very grave discrepancy on the labour market of Romania is determined by the obstruction of the collective negotiations through the effects of Law 62 of the Social Dialogue, unchanged from 2011 despite repeated commitments and demands by the International Labour Organisation and of the European Commission, says the CNS Cartel Alfa. Moreover, the freezing of the pension point by September 2019 and the adoption of a Pension Law that will generate discriminations among employees who have differently contributed, but will have identical pensions, the wrecking of the Pillar II mandatory private pension pillar are other reasons of discontent among the employees and pensioners, the unionists add.

The OUG 114/29 December 2018, endorsed on 21 December by the Romanian Government on the new fiscal-budgetary measures to come into force as of 1 January was published on Saturday in the Official Gazette. The piece of legislation sets new taxes on the business figure for the energy, telecom sectors, as well as taxes on the banking sector's assets. In energy, the companies will pay a 2pct contribution from their turnover, while in the telecom sector the said contribution is 3pct. Moreover, the price of the natural gas and electricity will be capped to 68 lei/MWh from 1 April 2019 to 28 February 2022, the banks' financial assets are going to be taxed if the level of the interbank offered rate ROBOR goes beyond 2pct, a contribution initially called by the gov't "tax on greed". For the public employees' sector, the piece of legislation provides an increase of the salaries by 25pct from the difference between what they receive in December 2018 and what it is foreseen in the Pay Law for 2022.

The business milieu has criticised in a single voice the measures provided by this OUG, saying that they will have a strong impact upon the activity of all economic operators in the country.AGERPRES(RO - editor: Constantin Balaban; EN - author, editor: Maria Voican)