TENS OF thousands of Romanians went on strike yesterday to protest against the government’s attempt to slash public sector wages and benefits.
Teachers, medics, council administrators and prison warders were among those who stayed away from work, but numbers appeared to be well below the 700,000 that union leaders had hoped for. Pensioners also demonstrated across the country.
Some unions said their members would continue to strike until the government scrapped plans to cut state sector salaries by a quarter, and pensions and other welfare payments by 15 per cent in a bid to restrict a ballooning budget deficit to 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product.
The International Monetary Fund demanded that Romania make swingeing cutbacks in return for a €20 billion loan that helped save it from collapse after the global slowdown plunged the country from credit-led boom into deep recession.
The centre-right government approved the austerity measures on Sunday and parliament could vote on them as early as today. The opposition Social Democrats say they are preparing a no-confidence motion.
The government and analysts say a complete overhaul of Romania’s bloated, corrupt and inefficient public sector – which employs some 1.4 million people – is essential if the state is to balance its budget and avoid a Greek-style financial meltdown.
But many people claim that cutbacks will hurt the poorest Romanians and call for steep tax rises on the wealthy.
The government insists that tax hikes would only hamper investment and further damage the economy.
“Who is going to stay to work here, for 600 lei (€145) a month? Professionals will leave,” said nurse Elena Banu.
A teacher who gave her name as Melania, who was protesting outside the education ministry in the capital, Bucharest, said it would be “impossible to live” if her monthly wage of €380 was cut by a quarter.
“We already owe money to the bank, we have children and we are already under stress because of poor working conditions,” she said.
