Worried that the Government might modify certain provisions in the Labour Code as requested by foreign investors, provisions currently allowing for a great union influence in labour-related decisions, the union heads have resorted to blackmail and are threatening protests. They demand the authorities to choose: either votes or investments.
“In an electoral year, the Government should make up its mind about what’s most important: the investors’ money or the employees’ votes,” Matei Bratianu, general secretary of the National Union Block said.
Bratianu dismissed the demands of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) to modify the labour legislation as absurd, saying their enforcement would eventually turn the Romanian workers into “blacks working on plantations.” “In case this request is granted, the investors could introduce slavery in Romania, as they will have the right to do whatever they please, whenever they please, however they please. The investors must not become planters on plantations laboured by slaves in Romania,” Matei Bratianu said.
The BNS leaders added they had discussed with other union confederations in Romania and each of them had expressed disagreement with the requests of the foreign investors.
“FIC made a series of recommendations for improving six aspects of the Labour Code, which we feel would ensure the flexibility of the labour market to benefit the economic growth. None of the recommendations made by FIC goes against the Directives or even the Directive drafts of the European Union,” Ruxandra Stan, the executive director of the council told Ziarul Financiar on Wednesday. She added that, in case FIC’s recommendations were applied as they were intended to, “they will result in an improvement in the Romanian investment environment, in attracting new foreign investments and therefore in new jobs.”
The main recommendations of the foreign investors target eliminating the wage guarantee fund set aside in case of bankruptcy, dropping the weekly cap of 48 work hours and the possibility to have employees compensated for not revealing company secrets in cash. Furthermore, FIC requested to have the restrictions on hiring or sacking employees dropped and the intervention of the unions in setting workloads eliminated.
“Mr. Bratianu should make up his mind about what is best for the members of his union: unemployment or jobs. A company cannot obviously function without the investors’ money and without work force. What Mr. Bratianu says is in sheer contempt of one of the two fundamental things that make a company work: labour and capital,” said Florin Pogonaru, chairman of the Romanian Business People Association (AOAR).
miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro