New Labour Code debated by the Group for Social Dialogue

The amended Labour Code over which the Emil Boc Government assumed responsibility before the Parliament and which will be approved unless the censure motion submitted by opposition parties will pass, it was debated by the Group for Social Dialogue on Thursday.

The new Labour Code will promote competition, illegal labour will be severely punished, but it will not legalize slavery, Emil Boc highlighted during the meeting.

Head of Cartel Alfa Bogdan Hossu mentioned that the new legislation lacks in offering protection to the employee.

He also stated that the new Labour Code will increase the rates of economic growth by attracting foreign investment including EU funds and will also help infrastructure development.

‘The new Labour Code will stimulate Romanian economic growth. The amendments brought to the Labour Code are far more important than any other fiscal rule ment to improve business environment and investments. To these disposals there is added the reduction of social security contributions for the current year, as an addition measure aimed at inducing economic growth’, Prime minister Emil Boc said.

In reply, head of the Nation Trade Union Confederation Cartel Alfa Bogdan Hossu mentioned that the new legislation lacks in offering protection to the employee from possible abuse.

In addition, he considers unnecessary the disposal by which employment without documents of at least five employees will be punishable by imprisonment, since criminal fining decisions have not even been imposed in Romania over the last two decades.

‘Imposing financial penalties would have been more useful. In this case, the employer would have been determined to pay, at a minimum wage level, all taxes including penalties for failure to pay wages on time’, Bogdan Hossu stated.

The Secretary General of the Businessmen’s Association of Romania Cristian Pârvan and other employer representatives have stated that the amendments brought to the Labour Code are insignificant and tax reduction is to be considered in order to create new jobs.

He also added that we should focus more on job qualification.

‘We cannot offer new jobs if we not know for sure what track of economic development to follow. If the economy provides jobs, there will be jobs, but if we take into consideration the information provided by the National Agency for Employment, we see that 90 percent of the candidates are unqualified or low-qualified, therefore they will receive low incomes, which will not assure a decent life for workers in Romania’, the Secretary General of the Businessmen’s Association of Romania insisted.

In Cristian Pârvan’s opinion, the complaints brought by trade unions to the new Labour Code are not to be taken into consideration.

Translated by: Mihaela Grigoraş
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University