Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, as a decision-making chamber, passed on November 23 the new social dialogue law by which the trade unions get new rights and powers in relation to employers, G4media.ro reported.

The law, which also represents a milestone in the Relaunch and Resilience national program (PNRR), was initiated by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and only needs to be promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis before entering into force.

The Liberal Party (PNL) has so far opposed most of the provisions of the draft law but finally accepted it after lengthy negotiations with the Social Democrats.

Under the new law, trade unions can carry out activities of a political nature. Thus, the express prohibition from the old legislation has disappeared.Also, the number of employees required to create a trade union in an institution or company decreases from 15 to 10.

In the absence of a representative trade union, the threshold required to declare a strike has significantly decreased (from half plus one of the number of employees to a quarter).

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Starfotograf | Dreamstime.com)