CFR employees threaten to strike in the middle of the summer season and say they will stop work and that no trains will run. On Monday, CFR employees organized a protest meeting in front of the Ministry of Transport and demand the approval of the revenue and expenditure budget for CFR Călători and CFR Infrastructura and the application of the Railway Staff Statute.
The main claims of the Zeferists
Hundreds of employees from CFR Călători and CFR Infrastructura went today in front of the Ministry of Transport, being dissatisfied with the low salaries, the high workload, but also the fact that from one day to the next the working conditions are deteriorating.
“Ceferists take to the streets at protest rallies organized by the Federation of Railway Transporters’ Unions from Romania, on 29.05.2023 and 26.06.2023, between 10:00-12:45, near the Park in front of the Ministry of Transport and near the parking lot in front of the Ministry Transport because we want the approved Budget and the applied Statute.
They are determined to protest together with the other Railway Trade Union Federations in front of the headquarters of the Government of Romania for the approval by the Government of Romania of the BVCs: CFR Călători and CFR Infrastructura for the year 2023 and for the application of Law no. 195/2020 regarding the Status of the Railway Staff at Ceferişti from July 1, 2023″, reads a press release from the FSTFR posted on the Facebook page of the Meridian National Trade Union Confederation.
A first dissatisfaction of the trade unionists is related to the lack of respect shown by the management of SNTFC CFR Călători SA, by the fact that this year the railway workers celebrated Railway Day on different dates, respectively the employees of CNCF CFR SA and those of CFR Marfă in a new style on February 16, and the employees of the passenger operator, in the old style, on April 23, notes Club Feroviar.
FSTFR is dissatisfied with the non-granting of a Railway Day premium of at least the level of the guaranteed minimum salary in payment, as was negotiated and recorded in the Verbal Negotiation Process of November 24, 2022 and as signed in Additional Act no. 1 of 28.11.2022 to CCM 2022-2023 in force at SNTFC CFR CălătoriSA. The premium given to the Ceferists, on Easter, was only 300 lei, and for the Railway Day they received nothing.
The trade unionists say that, although the railway personnel law provided for salary increases from July 1, until now, there is no budget for this. At present, average net salary at CFR Călători is almost 4,200 lei, too small for current needs – people say.
“From July 1, CFR employees can start a general strike in the summer season. There are protests for survival, we have miserable salaries, we have unqualified salaries”, said the president of the Federation of Railway Transporters’ Unions from Romania, Rodrigo Maxim,
Train traffic could be affected
The union leader said that due to the disapproval of the income and expenditure budgets at CNCF CFR SA and SNTFC CFR Călători, train passengers will suffer.
“We don’t even have money for spare parts. There will be insufficient trains, insufficient wagons. The revenue and expenditure budgets have not been approved even now by the Government of Romania. That’s why the Ceferistas are determined to take to the streets in the first place, because they will be cursed by travelers again, apostrophized.
But it is not their fault, it is the fault of the Romanian Government, which refuses to approve the budgets, both at CFR Călători and at CFR SA. About 700 mechanics will participate in Monday’s protest. In total, there are 1,500 at CFR Călători. Those who are not on the trains will come to the protest rally, but other CFR Călători employees from other branches will also come,” he explained.
The last general strike at the railway took place in December 2021, shortly after Sorin Grindeanu took over the post of Minister of Transport.
