Romanian Education Unionists Call On Ministry To Issue Order Regulating Wage System

The secretary general of the National Federation of Free Unions in Education (FSLI), Liviu Pop, on Tuesday said it is highly necessary to clear out salary issues in the education sector immediately, adding the federation has called on the Education Ministry to issue an order and regulate the matter.

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Education unionists and ministry officials convene Tuesday to discuss the government's plan to slash 15,000 jobs in the sector and cut PhD wage bonuses.

Talks will again touch on the application of the decree cutting jobs in the sector, as unionists disagree with the ministry's intention to first establish the number of jobs to be scrapped.

Constantin Ciosu, secretary general of the National Education Federation (FEN), said unionists hope job cuts in every county will be made responsibly, while considering the situation in the education system, and not unreasonably only for the sake of budget savings.

"Alma Mater" union leader Anton Hadar, who represents university professors, highlighted the importance of PhD wage bonuses and urged the ministry to back unionists on the matter.

"Ministry officials have pledged to include PhD wage bonuses in the new education law as hierarchy coefficients, but we are no longer confident this will happen," said Hadar.

Education Minister Daniel Funeriu on Monday said he plans to have the draft education law finalized in two weeks tops, which, he added, will be sent to the government first, then put up for public debate and later on sent to Parliament for adoption.

The ombudsman, who was asked early January to challenge the bill cutting jobs at the Constitutional Court, told unionists there are no legal grounds for such an action. Moreover, the ombudsman argued the decree, which states 15,000 jobs in the education sector are to be discarded as of September 2010, needs to be enforced for the country to comply with its IMF-led EUR20 billion loan agreement.

The ombudsman added the Parliament has the power to amend the decree when it debates it.

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