Salaries of Romgaz employees will not be reduced during the year 2024, and in the formation of the company’s budget, the provisions of the applicable State Budget Law for 2024 were respected, the company’s representatives state.
According to the quoted source, on Monday, the management of SNGN Romgaz SA met at the company’s headquarters in Mediaş with the social dialogue partner, respectively with representatives of the Romgaz Mediaş Free Trade Union, “within an open dialogue”, in order to clarify some issues that were at the basis of the initiation of a public demonstration.
“Against the background of some fears vis-à-vis the observance of some salary rights of the employees provided for in the Collective Labor Agreement, the following points were addressed and clarified: during 2024, the employment salaries will not be reduced, as was communicated by the representatives of the Free Romgaz Mediaş Union to the employees, members of the union, within Romgaz; regarding the construction of Romgaz’s Revenue and Expenditure Budget for the year 2024, Romgaz has respected and respects the provisions of the applicable State Budget Law for the year 2024,” the press release states.
At the same time, the company’s representatives emphasize that Romgaz’s salary fund has increased in the last 3 years by about 20% and the average gross profit/employee has increased by 24%, and during the year 2023, the company has respected all the rights of the employees stipulated in the collective agreement work and in individual employment contracts. Also, the premiums and other additions provided for by the Collective Labor Agreement (other than employment wages), granted to employees during the past year, totaled approximately 31 million lei. In December 2023, a premium of 670 lei/employee was granted to Romgaz employees which, together with the rest of the premiums paid during 2023, determined the achievement of a budget execution of 99.01% of the amounts provided for in 2023 in the Revenue Budget and Expenses for rewarding employees.
“We hope that the ROMGAZ Mediaş Free Trade Union will understand to promote any discussion related to salary rights, including those related to the amendment of the state budget law, in an amicable framework conducive to constructive negotiations,” say the company’s representatives.
The members of the Romgaz Free Trade Union started a protest action in front of the company on Monday, being dissatisfied with “the employer’s intention to reduce staff salaries by 5.82%” and not to provide for the related amounts in the 2024 Revenue and Expenditure Budget additions, premiums and indexation with the inflation rate, provided for in the Collective Labor Agreement.
The leaders of the Romgaz Mediaş Free Trade Union will come to Bucharest on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, to the Social Dialogue Commission at the Ministry of Energy, where they will discuss the wage issues that caused the protest.
“The management of Romgaz promised us that they will make a document with which they will go to the ministry. We will also go to the Ministry of Energy on January 31 to see what promises we have from them. It is a social dialogue commission, which was convened by the CNSLR Fraţia for this issue of a salary nature. The representatives who are mandated will go, it is a normal social dialogue commission, we are not going to protest, but we are asking for their help to make materials to amend the Budget Law, so that we can manage,” told Agerpres the president of the Free Romgaz Mediaş Union, Ioan Stoicovici.
He specified that the protest that took place on Monday in front of the company in Mediaş “was a success”, because he learned about the dissatisfaction of the employees “both at the ministry and at the Government”.
“More than 500 employees gathered. They stood in front of the company in Mediaş, protested outside, after that they protested inside. I say the protest has value, because mainly they found out about the grievances of the employees at the ministry and to the Government. We asked for the help of the Ministry of Energy and the Government to issue an emergency ordinance to amend the Budget Law for 2024. The protest was strictly on the salary side, because the law does not make it easy for us to maintain our purchasing power either. We did not ask for an increase salary. They make the budget for 2024 with a decrease of 5.82% from last year’s budget. That’s why the budget can’t increase with this year’s inflation either, so in total there would be almost a 12% decrease in the purchasing power of employees at Romgaz,” he said.