Romanian Employers Agree With Minimum Wage Hike If Other Wages Freeze

Romanian employers’ associations agreed with an increase in the minimum wage provided all other wages freeze until Romania manages to overcome the economic crisis, while unionists requested that talks on this core issue should consider Romania's salary policy.

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Cezar Coraci, a union leader, said at the end of talks on increasing the minimum wage, held Monday at the Labor Ministry headquarters, that employers and unionists agreed on several principles and desiderata.

Coraci said employers proposed to unionists and government officials that the minimum wage should be increased only if one discards the sole salary grid included in the collective labor contract at country level, so that salaries exceeding the minimum wage could be frozen until the country manages to overcome the economic crisis.

Employers also explained that increasing the gross minimum wage to 705 lei (EUR1=RON4.1953), would trigger a 18% increase in spending for the state budget and a 14% increase for the private sector, which, they stressed, is simply unsustainable.

Coraci pointed out that employers and unionists also agreed that further talks on setting the minimum wage would also focus on analyzing the country's salary policy.

Labor Ministry secretary of state, Valentin Mocanu, said the minimum wage is an element of salary policy, not an element of social protection, adding the value of the consumer basket of goods would also be considered when setting the minimum wage.

Mocanu stressed there are nearly 800,000 employees whose labor contracts stipulate the minimum wage.

The leaders of union confederations and employers' associations countrywide were invited Monday, September 28, at the Labor Ministry headquarters to jointly analyze the evolution of the country's gross minimum wage.

The Government recently said it plans to increase the gross minimum wage to RON705, from the current RON600.

In turn, unionists recently proposed a minimum wage of RON720 in 2010 and RON800 in 2011, which is expected to increase by RON100 annually, while employers want the minimum wage set at RON650 in 2010.

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