Workers at the Post commenced a widespread strike on Monday in Bucharest and across various counties. Their union asserts that, starting July, over 18,000 out of 21,000 employees will be earning the minimum wage in the economy. They are demanding a net increase of 400 lei in wages and loyalty bonuses. The Postal Workers’ Union, which initiated the general strike, alleges that the company is exerting pressure on employees by relocating Bucharest staff to the Cluj logistics hub to fill in for those on strike.
The National Trade Union Bloc, through the Romanian Postal Workers Union, accuses postal workers, union members, of pressure to go on strike.
According to the trade unionists, 13 Romanian Post employees were sent from Bucharest to replace those who went on strike today in the Cluj Regional Logistics and Courier HUB.
“Following this decision, the postal workers from the Cluj Regional Logistic and Courier HUB protested and demanded that they leave the premises of the HUB, as they are not employees of this branch of the Romanian National Post Company. At the same time, pressure was also reported at the Târgoviște Post Office, where a delegation of three people, employed at the headquarters of the National Romanian Post Company, arrived this morning from Bucharest, to stop the strike of SLRP members from Târgoviște“, accuses The Romanian Postal Workers’ Union from the National Bank of Romania.
The Romanian Postal Workers’ Union, affiliated to the National Bank of Romania, claims that “18,000 of the more than 21,000 employees of the Romanian Post Office, regardless of their position and seniority, would have the minimum wage in the economy from July!”.
The union points out that 115 days have passed since the management of the Romanian National Post Company made the first decision regarding the 2024 Collective Labor Agreement.
“From then until now, 110 days have passed in vain, without the company’s management having any intention of responsibly discussing this document that regulates labor relations between the employer and employees and maintains social peace in a company. Only in the last 4-5 days, after the registration of a labor conflict, after a warning strike and the notification of the general strike, at the express request of the majority shareholder – the Romanian state through the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, the company’s management began to make available to the union representative – the Romanian Postal Workers’ Union, data and information on the basis of which calculations can be made regarding the salaries of over 20 thousand Romanian Post workers”, claims the Romanian Postal Workers’ Union.
The trade unionists demand an increase of 400 lei in the net salary of the employees and an increase in the loyalty bonus granted in installments to employees who have worked for the Romanian Post for more than a certain number of years.
“The management of the Company responded to these demands by establishing a house union, led by the former general manager of the company and former advisor to the current general manager, together with which he signed an agreement promising the postmen salary increases that they would in fact, the law imposes on them the month of July 2024. The postmen refused to be manipulated and are determined to strike. We ask the beneficiaries of the services provided by the Romanian Post, mainly pensioners and social categories as poor as the postmen, to be with us and to ask together with us from the management of the company and from the competent authorities, the fastest possible resolution of the our requests”, the union also claims.
The state company Romanian Post categorized the labor conflict as artificial and assured the two million pensioners that they will not be affected by the postmen’s actions.
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