About 200 Subway Employees Picket Romanian Govt HQ Demanding Wage Raises

Subway employees demand wage raises of 26% and are angry that the Government hasn't approved the company's 2010 budget, which means they can't negotiate their wages. Subway employees will stage a two-hour warning strike Thursday morning, between 4 and 6 a.m. and plan to follow through with a full fledged strike starting next Monday, November 16.

Under the law, the subway company is obliged to ensure one third of its regular activity, even during a general strike, which means subway trains will only run between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m.

A general strike is likely to cause chaos on the streets of Romania's capital Bucharest because more than a quarter of the city's population of two million takes the subway every day.

Unionists had a first conciliation meeting Monday with the company management and the Bucharest Labor Department, after which unionists said they might go on general strike indefinitely as of next Monday, November 16. Union leader Ion Radoi said subway employees will also picket the Government headquarters daily starting Tuesday.

About 700 subway employees protested outside the Transport Ministry late October and Transport Minister Radu Berceanu said at the time their demands for a 26% wage raise are exaggerated and a talk on raises would not occur sooner than early next year, after the company's budget is approved.

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