Strike upsets Electrolux plans

Plans of the world’s leading home appliance maker Electrolux to relocate cooker production from three European countries to Romania could be affected by the general strike at its factory in Satu Mare, the company officials say.
“The decision to relocate production could be reconsidered, unless we cut a deal with the unionists,” Ulrich Gartner, Electrolux Europe PR vice-president told Ziarul Financiar.
“We decided to relocate part of the production from Sweden, Italy and Germany to make reasonable profits,” the Electrolux official added. The low wages are precisely one of the advantages of investing in Romania.
The workers at the Electrolux Samus factory went on a general strike last Friday, displeased they had not received the raises they had asked for.
“The group will make a decision about relocating the cooker production depending on the duration of the strike and its results,” said Florin Salagean, HR manager within Electrolux’ Satu Mare-based factory.
Salagean added negotiations had reached a deadlock, because the trade union members were asking for a 28% raise, while the company was prepared to offer only 19.3%.
“The people had initially asked for a 42% raise but they agreed to go for 28%. They are no longer willing to settle for anything less, they stand together and are determined,” union leader Sorin Faur was quoted as saying by Mediafax at the end of last week. On the other hand, the company management will not give in, either.
“This is our final offer. Actually, we did not suggest a salary; we suggested a salary package, so that incomes might increase as much as 31% for some workers. At any rate, the salaries of the workers at the Electrolux plant are 20% higher than the average salary in that region,” Gartner said.
Salagean explains the employees’ average gross income amounted to 6.1 million ROL last year, while the gross average salary stood at 5.4 million ROL, without taking meal tickets into account. The average gross salary in Romania reached 5.7 million ROL in November last year.