Ana Costea, a labour minister in the government
\nheaded by Dacian Ciolos, handed in her resignation on Thursday and the prime
\nminister accepted it. Her resignation comes after trade unions in the public
\nsector voiced their discontent with a planned emergency
\nordinance on state sector salaries, a document Ana Costea eventually refused to
\nsupport. Trade unions say the proposed ordinance would only widen the gap
\nbetween low earners and high earners in the public sector, with teachers in
\nfact losing money and with salaries in the healthcare sector going up
\ninsignificantly. <\/p>\n
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According
\nto Dumitru Costin, the president of the National Trade Union Bloc, outgoing
\nlabour minister Ana Costea could have done a lot of good things as a minister,
\nbut she just wasn’t allowed to. Dumitru Costin:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I had high expectations
\nfrom the labour minister at first but then I started to realise that she was
\nbeing gradually stripped of some of her initial responsibilities such as
\ndrafting the salary law for the public sector. I have found out that, two
\nmonths ago, this task was taken over by the Government’s General Secretariat.
\nAlso, when I asked minister Costea to withdraw the draft law, she said she
\nwould resign unless the law was withdrawn. To me it was more than obvious that
\nshe had not drawn up this law herself but that she had been obliged to take
\nresponsibility for it. She could have done many good things as a minister, but
\nshe just wasn’t allowed to.<\/p>\n
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A former labour minister herself, the vice
\npresident of the Social Democratic Party, Rovana Plumb, has said that Ana
\nCostea’s resignation delays a possible solution for the imbalances in the
\npublic salary system. On the other hand, the co-president of the National
\nLiberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, says Ana Costea’s resignation was the natural
\nthing to do, as her actions would have hurt the government’s image. <\/p>\n
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In the meantime, prime minister Dacian Ciolos said talks on
\nstate sector salaries would continue next week to work out a solution that is
\nacceptable for state employees and feasible from a budgetary and legal point of
\nview. The government’s spokesman, Dan Suciu, has said a possible increase
\nin public sector salaries depends on the financial resources available. Dan
\nSuciu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
When this government took over, the 2016 state budget had already
\nbeen drawn up and it did not contain any elements that would sustain salary
\nincreases. What we will try to do, if we reach an agreement with trade unions,
\nis to find additional resources. We will look again at the budget and see if we
\ncan find additional financing sources so as to be able to change the budget. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The labour ministry has recently said in a press release that at
\nleast ten versions of the salary law have been drawn up. The idea of an
\nemergency ordinance was eventually preferred because it was less costly and
\neasier to implement. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian Labour Minster Ana Costea has tendered her resignation, becoming the first minister to leave Dacian Cioloss cabinet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":68204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29442],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-68203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-resignation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n