Social Dialogue Law needs to be amended, single collectiv labor contract no loger exists nationwide

The current form of the Social Dialogue Law needs to be amended because it has led to the failure to complete collective bargaining agreements and we currently still have 900,000 workers covered by such a contract, Bogdan Hossu, President of the Cartel Alfa Trade Union Confederation, told a Thursday's conference dedicated to the World Day for Decent Work.

"The current form of the Law on Social Dialogue, amended in 2011, has practically blocked the signing of collective labor agreements. We still have 900,000 workers under collective labor contract. We are now in a totally aberrant situation. We no longer have a single collective labor contract nationwide, there are no collective labor agreements at sector level because the parties can no longer fulfill the clauses that are provided for in the current form of the social dialogue law. Moreover, at unit level, the vast majority of contracts are in the public sector," Hossu said, according to Agerpres.

Currently, over one third of all full-time employees are included at the minimum wage level, say the Cartel Alfa representatives. The lack of real negotiations pushing salary increases up the grid has led, with every rise of the minimum wage, year to year, to the increase of the number of those paid at this level. According to trade union leaders, in 2011, when the Law on Social Dialogue (62/2011)was adopted, some 8pct of employees were at the minimum wage level, about the same share as currently in Germany. Meanwhile, their number has grown five times.

Representatives of the trade unions say that this has consequences not only at present, through to the lack of the possibility of ensuring a decent living, but also for the future, due to the small pensions at the end of the active period, the lack of prospects for economic development, because under these circumstances a continuous migration, especially of qualified staff, is taking place.

"In the seven years since adoption of the Social Dialogue 62/2011 Law by assuming responsibility in Parliament, the situation of Romanian workers has deteriorated. Practically, although Romania has steadily recorded a growth rate over the European average during this period, mainly through the effort of the working people, those who contributed most to it, the workers, have not benefited from it," said Petru Dandea, Cartel Alfa secretary general.

The union leaders propose the amendment of the provisions of the Law on Social Dialogue so that the employees' representatives can be partners to collective bargaining only in the units where there are no unions. They also call for the inclusion of clear provisions prohibiting any kind of interference in the activity of the trade unions and any type of discrimination on the basis of union membership or trade union activities, together with effective sanctions, as well as reducing the threshold for unit representativeness to 35pct, in line with the recommendations of the International Labor Organization.