Protocol on wage bill for civil servants agreed

On 12 July 2006, after a long and difficult process of negotiation, combined with public sector protests and strikes, the government and the Confederation of Civil Servants’ Trade Unions ‘Sed Lex’ (Alianta Sed Lex) signed a protocol on a wage bill for civil servants, to be presented by a joint commission no later than 15 September 2006. Alianta Sed Lex agreed to suspend its protest action until the commission completed its activity.

Reasons for trade union protests

In November 2005, around 45,000 civil servants joined a warning strike against the existing wage system; the general strike was postponed after an agreement was signed on 9 December 2005 by the representative trade union and the government, stipulating that the union members would suspend protests under certain conditions.

One of these conditions was to draft a bill on a single wage system for civil servants by the end of June 2006. However, the government did not respect this deadline.

On 3 July 2006, trade union protests began with civil servants picketing in front of the government buildings in Bucharest. The trade unions claimed that the time limit for drafting the bill had been ignored and they thus requested a minimum net wage of RON 1,225 (approximately €350) per month for civil servants, compared to the current RON 530 (€151), complemented by a loyalty benefit of between 3% and 20%, a 15% confidentiality benefit, a career-progression type of promotion system and set wages for those on fixed-term employment contracts.

The trade union protests were also motivated by Romania’s forthcoming accession to the European Union in January 2007; they claim that, in the new Member States of central and eastern Europe, the minimum monthly wage of civil servants is around €470.

Unless the unions’ demands were met by 14 July 2006, a warning and general strike were set to begin, strikes which were already supported by 18,000 signatures of the 25,000 required to launch such protest actions.

Result of new negotiations

Time frame for drafting bill

On 12 July 2006, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Administration and Interior (Ministerul Administratiei si Internelor, MAI), Mircea Nicu Toader, and President of the Confederation of Civil Servants’ Trade Unions ‘Sed Lex’ (Alianta Federativa a Sindicatelor Functionarilor Publici ‘Sed Lex’, Alianta Sed Lex), Vasile Marica, announced that they would sign a protocol determining the time frame for drafting the bill on a single wage system for civil servants.

Alianta Sed Lex embraces four trade union federations and 342 organisations in all areas of public administration, representing approximately 51,600 members.

Signatories of agreement

The protocol was signed by four government representatives: three secretaries of state from MAI, the National Agency of Civil Servants (Agentia Nationala a Functionarilor Publici, ANFP), and the Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family (Ministerul Muncii, Solidaritatii Sociale si Familiei, MMSSF), as well as the secretary general of the Ministry of Public Finances (Ministerul Finantelor Publice, MFP).

It was also signed by five trade union leaders representing Alianta Sed Lex and its four federations, namely: the National Federation of Trade Unions in the Finance Sector (Federatia Nationala a Sindicatelor din Finante, FNSF), the National Federation of Trade Unions in Local Public Administration (Federatia Nationala a Sindicatelor din Administratia Publica Locala, FNSAPL), the National Federation of Labour and Social Protection Trade Unions (Federatia Nationala a Sindicatelor Muncii si Protectiei Sociale, FNSMPS) and the National Federation of Civil Servants in the National Institute for Statistics (Federatia Nationala a Functionarilor Publici din Institutul National de Statistica, FNFPINS) (RO0504104F).

Reaction of trade unions

The signatories of the protocol agreed that, by 15 September 2006, a joint commission, in cooperation with the World Bank representatives, would present the new bill of legislation regulating the wages of civil servants. As a result, the trade union protest programme was suspended.

Previously, on 6 July 2006, the government requested that ministries should cut jobs by up to 25.5%, so that the total wage bill of all state employees would not exceed 5.5% of Romania’s gross domestic product (GDP). All of the trade unions representing public sector staff rejected this requirement.

The National Confederation of the Free Trade Union Fraternity of Romania (Confederatia Nationala a Sindicatelor Libere din România Fratia, CNSLR Fratia), the National Trade Union Bloc (Blocul National Sindical, BNS) and the National Trade Union Confederation ‘Cartel Alfa’ (Confederatia Nationala Sindicala ‘Cartel Alfa’, Cartel Alfa) – three national trade union confederations – supported the demands made by Alianta Sed Lex, although the latter declared that it had achieved the reforms due to its own initiative. Nevertheless, in a press release, Alianta Sed Lex thanked the three trade union confederations for their involvement over the last 15 years in resolving this issue in the public sector.

Commentary

According to the Institute of National Statistics (Institutul National de Statistica, INS), in June 2006, the nominal net average wages at national level were 15.7% higher than they had been in June 2005, representing an 8% growth in wages in real terms.

In the public sector, nominal wage growth totalled approximately 20%. In June 2006, the monthly net average wage in this sector was RON 1,268 (€365), compared with the national average wage of RON 835 (€240).

According to trade union leaders, there was little prospect of the new bill regulating the wages of civil servants being finalised by 15 September 2006; thus, further protest action would seem inevitable.

Luminita Chivu, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy