ROMANIA: Schools are empty with hospitals struggling as Romanian workers take strike action over proposed cuts to salaries and jobs

Record ID: 339903

  • Title: ROMANIA: Schools are empty with hospitals struggling as Romanian workers take strike action over proposed cuts to salaries and jobs
  • Date: 6th October 2009
  • Summary: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (OCTOBER 5, 2009) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE OF A SCHOOL IN BUCHAREST
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Romania
  • Country: Romania
  • Topics: Health,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3BSFTOYCSIPEAR8UFW1Q7DV68
  • Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of Romanian public sector workers went on strike on Monday (October 5) in protest at International Monetary Fund-mandated (IMF) pay cuts, raising pressure on the minority government before a November presidential election.
    Hospitals throughout the country dealt only with emergencies while teachers supervised children without conducting lessons in Romania's most wide-ranging protest since the fall of communism in 1989.
    Police and prison guards also joined the one-day protest which affected 800,000 public sector workers, trade unions said. Transport was unaffected.
    The strike underscored the difficulty facing the ruling centrists in pushing through fiscal reforms -- demanded by the IMF in return for anti-crisis aid -- as they vie for public support in the November 22 presidential vote.
    Romanian Finance and Labour Minister Gheorghe Pogea, appealed to unionists to help the government through the crisis.
    "I'm honestly trying to understand, but at the same time you should think about the government and me as minister when I say: 'I cannot', what it is that makes me say that."
    Prime Minister Emil Boc echoed Pogea's comments.
    "We have a financial situation in this moment. Everybody needs to be aware we don't have hidden financial resources that we just don't want to make available," he stressed.
    Last week, tensions over how to deal with recession and political manoeuvring ahead of the election drove the Social Democrat Party (PSD) to quit the ruling coalition, leaving centrist Prime Minister Emil Boc to head a minority cabinet.
    Despite the split, the PSD last week pledged to support government efforts to meet conditions for the IMF's 20 billion euro anti-crisis aid package.
    But it said it plans to team up with the liberal opposition to try to bring down Boc's cabinet in a no-confidence vote which may be filed in parliament later this week.
    Since the coalition split, economists warned IMF reforms may be at risk, plunging the leu currency and raising concerns over Romania's recovery prospects.
    Boc urged Romanians to accept the government's proposals, warning that without them, the economy can slump further.
    "We have a budget deficit of 7.3 percent which must be financed. Without understanding and dialogue, we can hamper the payment of wages and pensions, even at these levels," he added.
    The IMF has asked Romania to introduce sweeping fiscal reforms aimed at curbing unrestrained salary growth in the public sector, imposing controls on how tax money is spent and clarifying salary levels in different budget sectors.
    The goal was to free up state cash for modernisation, vital to bringing back foreign investment, prevent a financing crisis and diminish fraud in the European Union's second most corrupt state.
    It also put pressure on political groupings who routinely use public cash to win support from the vast budget sector, which accounts for a third of the work force, and funnel money to the countryside to secure backing.
    A syndicate leader in the health sector, Dorel Butoi, says workers had been forced to act.
    "There's a strike in the health system because it is subfinanced. We do not agree with the layoffs, we cannot employ new people, even if we don't have enough medical workers, we are stronger with other public sector workers," he said.
    But with teachers and hospital staff earning 500 U.S. Dollars a month on average, a fraction of EU levels, any curbs on salary growth and the government's proposed mandatory unpaid leave later this year is fanning growing discontent.
    Union officials said the strike may be extended and confirmed plans for a mass rally on Wednesday (October 7).
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