Romanian Unions, Employers Call On Govt To Allow Extended Furlough

The two organizations said they call on the government to have such a decree drafted in two weeks at most.

Cartel Alfa union leader Bogdan Hossu said Wednesday the government spent 300 million lei (EUR1=RON4.1196) on furlough measures in 2009 and about one million people benefited from the measure.

Employees may be forced into furlough for a maximum period of three months, during which they are paid 75% of their regular wage and the state does not levy income tax.

Hossu said Romania would have had around 1.3 million jobless people last year if half of the people put on furlough had been laid off. Romania had 709,383 jobless people at the end of 2009, according to the national employment agency. The country's unemployment rose for the 17th consecutive month in December, and the jobless rate hit an almost six-year high at 7.8%, from 4.4% a year earlier.

The union leader also said the state could end up spending about RON500 million on unemployment in 2010, adding it would be cheaper to allow the extension of furlough and thus encourage companies to keep people employed.

In turn, UGIR-1903 head Cezar Coraci said he will also call on the prime minister to take further measures to ease the effects of the crisis, such as exempting companies from paying taxes if the hire people during the crisis period. He added Romanian industry does not show signs of recovery in 2010 and the sector has already slashed a record 365,000 jobs last year.

"The IMF has warned that lifting anti-crisis measures too early would deepen the crisis. That is why I think the government needs to pass an emergency decree extending furlough, otherwise, a large part of industry, such as the chemical or textile sectors, would have to resort to layoffs in the first months of the year," Coraci said.

Union confederation Cartel Alfa decided Monday one hundred people would picket the Finance Ministry for half an hour every day as of next week, urging the government to allow furlough. Hossu said employers would have to lay off 200,000 people as of February 1 unless furlough is allowed.

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