Unified Pay Scale, under Debate
Currently under public debate, the draft law on the unified pay scale is to be discussed and voted on by Parliament this week.
România Internațional, 04.04.2017, 13:22
The new law on the unified pay scale for the public sector will be a parliamentary initiative endorsed by all the partners in the ruling coalition, the Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu announced. He added that the bill will most likely be discussed and voted on by Parliament this week. The Prime Minister also said he wanted a fair law, enabling all employees to get paid in relation to their responsibilities. Sorin Grindeanu:
“This is an extremely important bill for us, and a measure that all Romanians have long been waiting for. It will be a parliamentary initiative of all the Senators and Deputies in the ruling coalition.”
On the other hand, the interim leader of the National Liberal Party in opposition, Raluca Turcan, says the Cabinet should ask for a vote of confidence on this bill.
“It would be a good idea for this Cabinet to send the clearest possible message and say, yes, we have the money for around 7 billion euros worth of pay rises. I would like the Parliament of Romania to discuss this issue in as serious and principled manner as possible, so that the people should know whether the budget allows for this pay rise.”
Turcan argues that Romania’s economic state is not the best, and that the business environment is under unprecedented pressure at present. In her opinion, Romania needs predictability, in order for its business environment to be strengthened and to be able to consolidate the budget, through revenues generated in due time.
In turn, Finance Minister Viorel Stefan added that he was first waiting to see the budget execution figures for the first quarter, so as to assess the impact of salary rises when the unified pay scale law takes effect. He explained that this is a very important law, and it should be immediately enacted, in order to ensure the stability of the Romanian public sector pay scale. The Finance Minister explained that the bill must be discussed by Parliament, because so far only government decrees have been passed in this respect, which has generated confusions with respect to salaries in the public sector.
The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, announced that the new bill will be signed on Thursday, in the central Romanian town of Sinaia, by the leaders of the ruling coalition and MPs. According to him, under the new law the ratio between the lowest and the highest salary in Romania will drop from 1 to 15 at present to 1 to 12. The highest paid will be the head of state, followed by the speakers of the two Chambers of Parliament, and the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
The Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu has recently said, after negotiations with trade unions in the public sector regarding the new bill, that salaries in the public sector will be raised gradually until 2021, and that the only category to benefit from full pay rises in 2018 will be the public healthcare staff. The authorities want the new law to come into force on July 1. (Translated by A.M. Popescu)
