After more than a year of unsuccessful bargaining, in December 2004, the Romanian social partners finally signed a new national collective agreement (covering 2005-6), having reached a deal on the key issue of the national minimum wage . The accord establishes a minimum wage rate higher than that set by a previous government decision.
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After more than a year of unsuccessful bargaining, in December 2004, the Romanian social partners finally signed a new national collective agreement (covering 2005-6), having reached a deal on the key issue of the national minimum wage . The accord establishes a minimum wage rate higher than that set by a previous government decision.
In 2004, no national collective agreement - an accord that provides a minimum basic framework for employment conditions - was signed in Romania. This was the result of a bargaining breakdown in summer 2004 (RO0407101N), when Cartel Alfa (one of the five nationally representative trade union confederations -RO0307101F) declined to sign a draft agreed by the other representative trade union confederations and employers’ associations. Cartel Alfa considered the proposed increase in the national minimum wage to be too low.
To avoid a repeat of the 2004 stalemate, negotiations over an agreement for 2005 were initiated well in advance. Once again debates were highly animated, with trade unions pressing for a major increase in the minimum wage. By 12 December 2004, no mutually acceptable decision had been reached, so the government adopted a decision establishing a new level for the national minimum wage, coming into force on 1 January 2005 - ROL 3.1 million (EUR 78) gross per month, compared with ROL 2.8 million (EUR 70) in 2004.
Trade unions disapproved of this unilateral decision, accusing the government of 'ignoring consultations with social partners and preferring instead to negotiate minimum wages with the International Monetary Fund... thus the minimum wage fails to cover even the minimum basket of consumer goods which, as calculated for the month of May 2004, amounted to ROL 4.3 million (EUR 108) a month'. Cartel Alfa made public its disapproval and argued that the calculation of minimum wages should take into account elements such as labour productivity, inflation and the minimum 'basket' of consumer goods required to ensure decent living standards. The government argued that minimum wages higher than ROL 3.1 million per month would upset the balance of the 2005 state budget. An estimated 1 million people in Romania receive the minimum wage, of whom 100,000 are employed in the state budget-funded sector alone.
However, on 17 December 2004, all trade unions, employers’ associations and the government succeeded in finalising and concluding the new national collective agreement. It runs for two years (2005-6), rather than the usual one, but allows for possible amendments following the conclusion of additional articles by the social partners. The new agreement sets the national minimum wage at ROL 3.3 million (EUR 83) gross per month.
The new collective agreement has not yet been published in the Official Monitor, as required by law. It was one of the last documents signed by the Social Democrat Party (Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) government, before handing over to a new administration - following parliamentary and presidential elections held at the end of 2004 - of which PSD is no longer a part.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2005), New national collective agreement signed, article.
