Romanian Unionists Rally At Govt HQ Again, Demanding Min Wage Hike At RON600

Protesters also rallied Wednesday and have permits for Friday, and unless the government accepts their demands, they plan to stage ampler protests next week in Bucharest and all major cities across the country.

Union leaders are expected to meet for talks Thursday afternoon with Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu, economy and finance minister Varujan Vosganian and labor minister Paul Pacuraru.

Unionists started protests last Wednesday, at the headquarters of the Ministries of Labor and Finance, urging the government to keep its promise and increase the minim wag to RON540 from the current RON500. unionists said at that time that unless the government accepts the hike to RON540, they would rally and demand a hike to RON600.

The government, unions and employers agreed in December last year to set the minimum wage at RON500 in the fist half of the year, and increase it to RON540 as of the second half, if macroeconomic indicators allow it. 

Romanian minister of economy and finance Varujan Vosganian recently rejected unions’ demands for the increase in the minimum wage to RON540, saying Romania failed to meet the inflation target and labor productivity criteria.  

Vosganian said the three criteria needed for the government to up the minimum wage are gross domestic product growth, inflation and labor productivity, stressing Romania only met its economic growth target.