The management still refuses to change its position and to negotiate with the local union wages which allow for a decent life for workers and their families. The company continues to offer an increase of only €1/day and a bonus of attendance of €1/day, which can be lost if the worker cannot be 100% present at work, for example due to sickness. Any attempts at mediation, for example from the Prefect of the county (highest authority at regional level) or the police, have been blocked by the management which refuses to enter a constructive social dialogue with the local union.
The plant in Romania is a subsidiary of the Swedish multinational company, Electrolux, whose headquarter is in a country well known for its good industrial relations. We expect Electrolux, which is a profitable and wealthy company, to apply the same model as in their home country and to pay fair and decent wages to its workers everywhere, including eastern Europe.
As part of the 100 years anniversary of Electrolux, the company recently published its book “Shape living for the better”, but Electrolux’ slogan seems to remain only on paper when it comes to its workers in Romania. The Romanian workers deserve their fair share of the company’s productivity gains that they contribute to through their hard work.
It is paying its Romanian workers around €360/month, €400 with meal vouchers. This is below the living wage in Romania, where the necessary amount for a decent living is €537 for a single person and €1410 for a family of two adults with two children.[1] The local trade union affiliated to FNS Solidaritatea Metal is only asking for a much needed increase of €70, so that workers in Electrolux and their families can come closer to a decent living.
This is yet another case of a multinational company pitting workers against workers in a race to the bottom. Electrolux refuses to increase the wages of Romanian workers to a level which can allow them and their children to live decently and not at risk of poverty, but has no problem to pay its workers in Poland over €600 and in Italy €1500. In Sweden the average worker in the manufacturing industry earns around €2800. We urge Electrolux to apply the same model everywhere and to treat all its workers with respect.
industriAll Europe General Secretary Luc Triangle said:
“We will not tolerate the unfairness of Electrolux’ wage policy in Romania and we support the struggle of our Romanian colleagues for decent wages for all workers. We are outraged that after more than a month and a half of general strike, the management continues to refuse to change its position and to offer workers the €70 raise. We call on all our members to express their international solidarity with the local union affiliated to FS Solidaritatea Metal and to urge the management to engage constructively into collective bargaining with the union.”
In order to express your solidarity with the Romanian workers at Electrolux, please click here to access a template letter and send it to: Gheorghe Sora,Vice-President, FS Solidaritatea Metal (soragh@cartel-alfa.ro). Add in CC: Sorin Faur, President, Sindicatul Samus (sorin.faur@electrolux.com), Jonas Samuelson, CEO Electrolux (jonas.samuelson@electrolux.com).