Bucharest Court Expected To Rule On Subway Strike Legitimacy Tuesday

The Court was also required to suspend subway employees' protests unfolded between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m.. A ruling is expected Tuesday, Udriste said.

Monday morning, the subway management submitted a request with the Bucharest Court to decide whether the strike is legitimate.

Udriste said the strike might be declared illegal as "the subway company does not have a budget for 2010 and the wage fund for 2010 is not known," adding, though, there were situations when "negotiations were held without knowing these figures."

"But the situation then was different as we weren't going through a financial crisis," Udriste said.

Transport Minister Radu Berceanu said Monday he is thinking about taking the subway workers' strike to court, saying there is a precedent of 2005, when a similar strike was pronounced illegal after two days.

Berceanu said the law forces subway employees to ensure a third of regular activity even during a general strike, but in 2005, subway unionists arranged their protest schedule to have all traffic halted during the busiest hours.

About one third of the capital's population of 2 million uses the subway daily and even though the public road transport company RATB has sent all its spare vehicles on route, these are not enough to cover the large number of people who need to get from one place to another.

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