Health, Economic Policy, Romania

Trade unions, including Sanitas and Columna, have managed to secure pay increases for workers in health and social services. According to Sanitas, increases in the health sector vary according to occupation but range up to 26.8% with 20% in social assistance. The union has also been able to resolve discrepancies in salaries affecting a number of specific occupations. Meanwhile Columna has also been active in local government where it organised strike action on 19 March involving nearly 19000 workers as it tries to ensure that the pay increases that apply to health, education and social care

The Sanitas and Columna trade unions are trying to make progress on a number of fronts, including securing pay increases for workers in health, care and local government for 2024 and to negotiate sector-wide agreements in all three sectors. In local government Columna is calling for guarantees that workers will be paid according to a national pay grid and no longer covered by each local authority and it also wants agreements to cover the sector or groups of authorities and not council-by-council. Both Sanitas and Columna are also calling for a pay rise for workers in social assistance and to

Tough negotiating by the Sanitas health union and effective mobilisation of its members is delivering positive outcomes. Following discussions with the government on 25 January the union says that there will be a 20% increase in the salary fund so that all employees in health benefit from an average salary increase of 20% in 2024, paid in two instalments; a 20% increase in salaries for specialized personnel in care and social work; assessment of personnel needs in the public health system and unblocking of posts; and the start of negotiations for a collective agreement covering social work

The Sanitas trade union, representing workers in health and social care has welcomed the government decision to allow recruitment to over 8000 positions in the public health system that it had previously blocked. The union had threatened to strike over the issue and while it sees this initiative as a step in the right direction it is calling for much more to be done to address the critical shortage of staff in health and social care. Sanitas estimates that the 8000 jobs to be filled cover only around a quarter of the needs of the health and social care sectors and that the government will have

Following longstanding problems in ensuring full implementation of the law on salaries that applies to health and social care staff, the Sanitas trade union has declared a labour conflict. For over two years the government has blocked full implementation of the law and the proper calculation of salaries. Bonuses are stuck at levels dating back to 2018 and overtime is unpaid. A holiday allowance has not been granted and the food allowance is also linked to 2018 pay levels rather than current salaries. The situation is made worse by the repeated blocking of recruitment to fill vacancies, leading

Negotiations between the health and care workers’ union Sanitas and the government continue to deliver on the union’s key demands on pay and conditions in addition to the successes reported in the last newsletter. All categories of employees in health care will get pay increases from 1 August, representing partial payment, in advance, of increases that will be provided for in the new wage law. From 1 August a range of occupations are also set to get additional payments for on-call duty that range from 100 to 1000 lei (€20-€200). The Ministry of Health will immediately begin the process of

Over the course of several months, heath union Sanitas has been negotiating with the government and organising actions to deliver progress on jobs and pay and conditions in health and social care. In May the union was building up for industrial action and in early June members wore union badges and armbands to work to show the level of support for the union’s demands. So far the government has conceded on several issues including the unblocking of 14000 positions in the health system; approval of an emergency ordinance covering increases for all basic salaries for specific groups of workers in

A picket of the Ministry of Health on 23 May organised by the Sanitas health federation was key to getting the government to sit down with the union to discuss a range of issues relating to pay, bonuses, food allowances and funding for the health and social care system. Meetings took place on 24 and 25 May with the union setting out its key demands and the government indicating it would respond in early June. Sanitas will continue to mobilise its members and hasn’t ruled out warning strikes and potentially a national strike if the government fails to come up with solutions to its demands.

The Cartel-Alfa trade union confederation organised a series of rallies around the country from 17 October leading up to a national demonstration in Bucharest on 20 October. The confederation is calling for action to tackle surging inflation and for increases to pay and pensions. The actions were supported by EPSU affiliate Hipocrat which organises in the health sector.

The Sanitas health union is calling on the government to offer permanent employment to the many medical and auxiliary workers who were taken on to help cope with the pandemic. These workers will see their contracts terminated once the end of the emergency is declared. The union argues that these workers have clearly demonstrated their skills and competences in helping to deal with the crisis with many facing high risks of infection and some even losing their lives to COVID. Sanitas also sees continuing staff shortages as another argument for offering these workers permanent employment.

The European and global trade union confederations (ETUC and ITUC) have written to the Romanian government to protest against the decision not to implement a pay increase for public sector workers. The letter also challenges the government on anti-union statements and threats to remove the right of trade unions to collect membership fees through check-off. EPSU also wrote to the government along similar lines in January and followed up this letter in March – with no reply received so far to either letter.

Public sector unions remain angry that the government has not only failed to implement a pay rise that was set in legislation last year but also refused to engage in social dialogue. This anger has been further fed by anti-union comments from the prime minister who has challenged the independence of public sector unions, their right to collect dues by check-off and their right to protest. Unions are considering further protests. EPSU has sent letters of protest to the prime minister and raised the issue with the European Commission as the behaviour of the Romanian government clearly flies in

Public sector unions have been active in protests against the government’s refusal to abide by legislation and implement a pay increase for public sector workers. They are also challenging the government for its failure to agree to any social dialogue with the unions and are concerned about possible cuts to bonuses and holiday allowances. Health workers took action in January and other public service workers continued the protests through February and are now considering what further action to take. The Publisind federation that includes the SNPP police and prison officers’ union have also