Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Romania (Ratification: 1973)

Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention. Deductions from wages – Attachment of wages. The Committee notes the comments of the National Trade Union Confederation (CNS “CARTEL ALFA”) and Block of National Trade Unions (BNS) concerning the application of the Convention. The two workers’ organizations consider that recent austerity measures, such as the 25 per cent reduction in the salaries of public sector employees and the 15 per cent reduction in pension payments which were imposed from July to December 2010, are in violation of the Convention. The BNS indicates that this measure concerned more than 1.3 million employees and affected their standard of living as most of them earned less than 1000 Romanian new leu (RON) (approximately €230) per month.

In its reply, the Government explains that these austerity measures were taken in application of a loan agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. It also indicates that the 25 per cent reduction was introduced by Act No. 118/2010 concerning measures to restore budgetary stability for a limited period of six months. The Government further states that the constitutionality of this law was challenged before the Constitutional Court which by decision No. 872/2010 pronounced itself in favour of the constitutionality of the law in question. The Court upheld the constitutionality of the law principally because of the temporary character of the measures, their non-discriminatory application and their consistency with article 53 of the Constitution that permits limitations to the exercise of rights and liberties in cases of extreme necessity.

The Committee notes the Government’s explanations. It observes that although wage cuts implemented in a context of harsh economic crisis may not be deemed to represent deductions from wages within the meaning of Article 8 of the Convention nor do they qualify as wage attachment within the meaning of Article 10, they may nonetheless effectively challenge the very object and purpose of this Convention depending on their extent and severity. The Committee recalls its Note on the “Relevance and application of ILO wage-related Conventions in the context of the global economic crisis” (paragraph 119 of the Committee’s 2010 Report, page 35) in which it emphasized that wage protection takes on particular importance in times of crisis and therefore relevant standards should not be undermined but rather put at the centre of crisis responses, as is underlined in the Global Jobs Pact, adopted by the International Labour Conference in 2009. It also considered that ILO wages-related standards and principles serve as a reminder of the special nature of wages as the workers’ principal, if not sole, means of subsistence, and hence of the need for targeted and priority action in this field, and expressed the hope that ILO Member States will act positively in the current economic downturn by carrying out the necessary reforms in wage legislation and wage policy consistent with those standards and principles. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to provide full particulars on any new anti-crisis measures and policies that impact on wages, including information on the necessary consultations with the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned on these measures.