Romanian Court Trying Legitimacy Of Subway Strike Halts Debates On Technicalities

The unionists' lawyer first asked to see the document that proves the case was randomly assigned to the respective court panel and said he would raise several exceptions of unconstitutionality over the government emergency decree that ratifies Romania's standby loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The lawyer said an article of the decree breaches people's constitutional right to collective labor negotiations.

The court adjourned the meeting for half an hour to view the documents submitted by the union's lawyer.

Subway employees went on general strike Tuesday demanding wage raises of 20% and a new collective labor contract, because their old one expired on November 1. Transport Minister Radu Berceanu said there is no way he can approve wage hikes citing budget constraints. Besides, the subway company doesn't have an approved budget for 2010 so they can't negotiate wages.

The subway strike jammed traffic in the Romanian capital for the second day in a row Wednesday as the 600,000-odd people who usually take the subway used ground public transport or took taxis and personal cars.

Subway employees may not halt activity altogether because the law requires them to cover one third of regular activity even during a general strike, so subway traffic is resumed daily at 4 p.m..

If a court of law pronounces the strike illegal, employees are forced to get back to work without any negotiations and, consequently, without any wage hikes.

Besides the Bucharest Court's ruling on the legitimacy of the strike expected Wednesday, the Bucharest Court of Appeals is expected to rule Thursday on the subway company management's request to have the strike suspended for a month. Unionist said they would resume protests in January if the Court of Appeals moves to halt their action.

Subway union secretary general Florin Crisu said the court may rule to suspend the strike for a month, which means they can resume it after December 17.

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