Labour Minister apologises

Labour and Social Solidarity minister Marian Sarbu apologised for the “grave communication flaw” and for the “confusion created” by the new labour code draft and specifies he “completely” assumes “the error of internal administration” regarding the form of the text that was sent for authorisation.

Marian Sarbu says he had decided to eliminate the stipulation regarding the size of the guarantee fund for salary payment long before the new labour code was released in the media. According to the initial stipulations, the fund was to immobilise more than 21 billion dollars.

“The initial value was aberrant indeed and had nothing to do with my own opinion on this issue. The fact that, on its way of getting the necessary authorisation and during the public debates, the text was released under the much criticised form, is an error of internal administration that I completely assume,” Sarbu specified.

He added that the existence of a guarantee fund for salary payment is “an obligation resulting from Directive 80 / 987 / CEE and is mentioned in the Legislative Programme of the Romanian Government for 2001-2004”.