Financiarul

More than 2,000 employees of the Metrorex underground carrier will take to the streets on Thursday and march from the Transport Ministry to the Finance Ministry claiming a pay rise of more than 26 percent and a new collective labour agreement, Chairman of the Union of the Underground Trade Unions (USLM) Ion Radoi told Agerpres on Monday after talks with Transport Minister Radu Berceanu.

‘We discussed with the transport minister and we were given assurances that the Government might approve a revenues budget for 2009 for Metrorex on Wednesday and later on we might discuss the collective labour agreement for 2010. Otherwise, we will start an industrial conflict on November 1 with conciliation that will be followed by a token strike and later on an all-out strike,’ said Radoi.

Metrorex officials say that under Government Ordinance 99, only the Government may increase the wage fund to pay for wage increases, because Metrorex is one of ten state-run companies monitored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

‘Only the Government may approve the company’s budget, and consequently, the wage fund. We may not award any pay rise,’ Metrorex Director General Gheorghe Udriste said at the end of talks with trade unions.
The underground trade unions announced they will go on an all-out strike November 1-15 because the negotiations over a new collective labour agreement could not be held as the company’s management did not get approval for discussing pay rights.

‘At our talks with the Metrorex management for concluding a new collective labour agreement as from November 1, they came up with a mandate saying they can discuss everything save for pay rights and financing. We started the industrial conflict because the Constitution provides for an obligation to negotiate the pay rights, and the management puts us in a position in which there is impossible to have such negotiations,’ said Radoi.

He mentioned that the Finance Ministry submitted a request to the Metrorex management that they shall not exceed a pay rise of 6.5 percent in 2009, although the initial rise won was 23 percent. ‘Mr. Pogea wants to disregard the Metrorex performance indicators, which have been up 33 percent this year.

But Metrorex is now transporting 650,000 passengers a day, with more stops and employing the same staff size. Given that another 500 workers should be hired to provide transit security, we are demanding a pay increase of nearly 26.5 percent for 2010, that is 20 percent covered by productivity gains and a 6.5 percent inflation adjustment,’ said Radoi. There are nearly 5,000 people employed by the underground transit system of Bucharest, 4,320 with Metrorex and 500 with Alstom, a maintenance firm.