Police continue protest against government

Romania’s police protested in the streets at government plans to restructure the Ministry of Administration and Interior Affairs by cutting around 10,000 jobs. The plans were outlined in a bill drafted at the end of 2010 and approved by government in March 2011. The National Union of Police Workers and Ancillary Personnel continues to protest, though parliament has dismissed the bill and amended police bylaws. Minister of the Interior Traian Igaş agreed to talk to the union on 2 June.

Roots of the conflict

The conflict began in September 2010, when over 8,000 police workers rallied in front of the presidential quarters to challenge a 25% cut in their salaries. In December, the Ministry of Administration and Interior Affairs (MAI) posted a draft bill on its website, for public debate, regarding special measures to cut its spending.

Trade union representatives say the draft implied the ministry was contemplating cuts of 1,700 personnel from the regular police, 1,500 from Romania’s border police, 2,100 firemen and 2,700 gendarmes.

The ministry argues that it has to manage a cut in its budget from 1.74% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 to 1.38% in 2011, and further reductions to 1.24% of GDP for 2012 and 1.17% for 2013.

New rules for laying off police

Romania’s 2011 State Budget Law allows the creation, with effect from the second quarter, of a ‘transparent method of nominating the personnel with whom a professional or employment relationship will be terminated’.

The draft sets out a number of principles underlying the criteria based on which a police worker may or may not be made redundant, namely if they:

• have a record of final court orders, disciplinary measures, or administrative sanctions against them;

• have a record of professional skills and experience that is not sufficient for their current job;

• have a good/bad record of professional evaluations in the past three years;

• have been found ‘inadequate’ or ‘moderately adequate’ by military health examiners;

• have reached retirement age.

In March 2011, the draft was approved by the Romanian government and submitted to parliament.

Some of the draft’s provisions contradict existing bylaws, as approved under Act 360/2002, Article 71. These lay down obligations on employers to offer police workers nominated for dismissal a vocational training programme during the last six months of their employment or professional relations due to restructuring/reorganisation.

On 4 April 2011, the bill was dismissed by the Senat, or upper chamber of the Romanian parliament, and on 24 May it was voted down by the Chamber of Deputies, which, in this case, has the decisive vote. This put an end to the bill’s legislative procedure.

Amending police bylaws

Also in May this year, the bill for the amendment of Act 360/2002 regarding police bylaws, which had been laid aside by parliament since 2009, was resubmitted to the Chamber of Deputies.

Following the government’s request that the bill should be debated as a matter of urgency, the bylaws bill was approved by the Chamber on 31 May 2011, and forwarded to President Traian Băsescu for endorsement.

Some of the main amendments to the bylaws are outlined below.

• Art. 71 (1) (a) provides that the ‘police workers who, at the date of dismissal, do not fulfil the age and length of service conditions for retirement from work, shall enjoy the right to sign up for vocational readjustment programmes within the next six months after redundancy’. The previous version provided the same right for the six months prior to redundancy.

• Art. 78 (1) provides that the ‘procedure and circumstances for the change and/or termination of the professional relations with a police worker shall be determined by order of the Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs’. The old version stipulated that the ‘provisions of the current act shall be complemented with provisions of the public servants bylaws act and other legislation applicable to public servants, whenever the law governing police workers remains silent’. In other words, the minister can now decide on police redundancies and does not have to conform with legislation that protects public servants.

Police pay and benefits cut

At the end of May this year, the Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs Traian Igaş decreed that expenses for ministry employees for food and uniforms would be cut from RON 720 to RON 130 (€168 to €30 a month as of 12 July 2011), due to the shortage of funds.

This means that the monthly earnings of a policeman have been cut to RON 800–1,200 (€190–€285).

Finally the government has announced its intention to defer, for six months, the employment of some 2,500 new graduates from various police schools who are expected to complete their studies in 2011.

In April, Interior Minister Igaş stated that if some police workers were dissatisfied with their working conditions after restructuring, ‘they could turn to other, better, work opportunities available in the labour market’ (Agerpres).

A month later he said that if the redundancy programme was not carried out, police workers would receive 30% less pay by December.

Reaction of union members

Threatened with job losses, extra workload and lower salaries for those remaining in the system, the members of the National Union of Police Workers and Ancillary Personnel (SNPPC) and members of the Sindicatul ProLex have staged several protest meetings:

• on 17 May, in front of the Romanian parliament building;

• on 24 May, at the session of the Chamber of Deputies, with banners carrying their demands;

• on 6 June, in a joint rally with trade union members from the Dâmboviţa, Prahova and Teleorman counties;

• on 7 June in Bucharest, with participants from all over Romania.

At the last meeting the union members received a message of sympathy from the President of the European Police Union (EPU).

Dialogue between unions and government

During negotiations, the unions have demanded that the government:

• recognise the right of police workers to take a voluntary career break for a period of two to three years, and to be reemployed upon request;

• grant severance pay for the next three years (with effect from 2012) for police who have retired early;

• reimburse academic fees paid by police school graduates who agree to leave the police system voluntarily;

• clarify the status of the 2011 graduates due to assume duties with effect from 1 January 2012;

• make a smaller cut in the food allowance, and reduce pay differences by 5 July.

Following the talks, Minister Igaş agreed to examine the proposal for career breaks as a first step towards reducing the number of redundancies; and to agree to the proposals for reimbursing school fees, and approving unpaid leaves of absence.

Yet to be discussed with other members of the cabinet is the proposal for severance pay for police who are laid off or retiring, a compensation measure that would contradict the provisions of an agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Commentary

The parliamentary opposition challenged the amended police bylaws act before the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR). It opposed the law giving the Minister of the Interior the right to terminate the employment of police workers before they are offered retraining. It also objects to the discriminatory character of article 78, which it says allows police to be treated unequally to other public civil servants.

At the negotiations held on 21 June at the ministry’s offices, the parties agreed to wait for the Constitutional Court’s decision on the amendments to the police workers bylaws act.

Constantin Ciutacu, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy