Some 15,000 employees of Romania’s Finance Ministry went on strike on August 10 to protest the Government’s plans to streamline the management structure and cap certain benefits extended in the budgetary sector, according to the leader of the trade union, Vasile Marica.

The whole Government’s activity may be crippled by “spontaneous” protests of the employees, Marica warned.

Among the measures challenged by the trade unions is the one cutting the holiday vouchers for employees with wages above EUR 2,000 (gross).

The 22,000 employees in the Finance Ministry would lose some RON 700 (EUR 140) per capita if the measures envisaged by the Government are implemented, Marica claimed.

The average net wage among the ministry’s employees is around RON 6,000 (EUR 1,200), one-third higher compared to the RON 4,500 (EUR 900) economy-wide average.

But Marica says the public employees’ wages are still small compared to those of the taxpayers that they are supposed to investigate.

(Photo: Vlad Sogodel/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com