Romanian Subway Employees Go On Gen Strike Indefinitely Tuesday Over Wages

Subway unionists failed to reach an agreement with acting Transport Minister Radu Berceanu.

The unionists and Berceanu met, Monday morning, to find a solution that would prevent a general strike.

The unionists demand the start of negotiations for a new collective labor contract, because the previous one expired at the beginning of November, and want wage raises of nearly 26%, saying productivity increased by 30%.

Union leader Ion Radoi said after the meeting that they received no wage raise offer and the government suggested unionist should wait until the company's 2010 budget is approved, possibly in February next year. The union leader said he doubts the 2010 budget would be approved in February considering this year's budget was only approved last week.

Radoi also argued the state should not cut the subway company's subsidies, because that would make subway pass prices increase about four times. He also argued the subway is subsidized all over the world.

The union leader added the general strike has nothing to do with upcoming presidential elections this weekend.

In turn, Transport Minister Radu Berceanu said 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. Workers plan to take the same course of action and halt traffic until 4 p.m., although regular working hours are between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m..

While union leader Radoi said subway employees have an average base wage (net of bonuses, indemnities and other salary rights) of 1,600 lei (EUR1=RON4.2962), he couldn't say how much money get actually get on average per month. The transport minister said the average gross wage of subway workers is at RON3,600.

Berceanu said subway workers got a 23% wage raise in November 2008 and if they were to get the raise they now claim, they would have a 48% raise compared to 2008.

The subway company's 2009 budget was of RON640 million, of which RON328 million were state subsidies, and wages accounted for 45% of expenses, or RON285 million, the minister said, adding the company's own revenues stood at RON143 million.

"The 4,250 employees of Metrorex want wages that are double what the company makes. Therefore, the subway's 650,000 daily passengers can't use it as of Tuesday because these 4,250 people want raises. I think less than 0.1% of daily subway passengers have salaries that match those of subway workers," Berceanu said.

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