Over 4,000 Employees In Romania’s Dacia Car Plant On Warning Strike

According to Ion Iordache, deputy leader of the Dacia Renault Union, the warning strike is joined by 70% of the 6,000 employees working the first shift, as unionists agreed on this form of protest.

"We will not gather in front of the gate or within the management building. Each of us will go on a strike, those who signed for a warning strike, at each of our workplaces, by ceasing work for two hours, between 13.00 and 15.00. This warning strike is legal manner because salary negotiations unfolded with company management, in the presence of representatives form the Arges county Department for Labor, Protection and Social Solidarity Labor Direction, led to the solution of just one out of 14 claims. On February 28, the collective labor contract concluded between the workers and Dacia Renault expired. We want a renewal of this contract, but with solutions for our 14 claims," Iordache said.

The most important claim of the union envisions a fixed sum salary hike of 550 lei (EUR1 = RON3.7100), which would be granted in two rounds, and higher Easter and Christmas bonuses.

Nicolae Pavelescu, the leader of the Dacia Renault union, said that management did not agree with the nearly 10% salary hikes requested by the union. Pavelescu added that if the management does not accept all 14 claims, Dacia Renault unionists will call general strike indefinitely.

The most important claims of the unionists at Dacia target a salary hike of RON350 starting with January 1, 2008 and RON200 starting with June 1, 2008, a 5-10% share from the company’s net profit, Easter and Christmas bonuses worth 50% of the company’s average salary, higher vacation bonuses, higher Car Maker Day bonuses, granted in September, and facilities for workers buying Renault cars or parts, namely a 15% discount in the final bill.

The company proposed a 9.14% increase in pay, in two rounds, and the grant of a bonus, depending on performance, worth RON456, taxable, for each employee.

"The official salary hike offer was made on February 5, the date of the first reunion being January 28, and it consisted of a 9.14% increase, in two rounds, and a result bonus with a fixed value of RON456 for each employee, gross, in one round. This is the offer that we have made today (Friday t.n.) as well," Dacia officials told MEDIAFAX.

According to them, the purchase power of Dacia workers doubled in three years, taking inflation into account.

"The average gross salary of a worker at Dacia was, last year, RON1,663, some two and a half times more than the one in 2003, namely RON691. In other words, with a cumulated inflation, in the mentioned period, of 32.66%, Dacia worker salaries grew by 140.67%. If in 2004, a Dacia worker needed 38.6 salaries to buy a Logan, at the time’s price, today, the same worker can buy the same car with 19.2 salaries, at the current price of the car," Dacia officials said.

They added that this level of remuneration was possible due to the sales registered by Dacia Logan.

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