1 February, 2012860 employees of an Electrolux plant in Satu Mare, northern Romania, went on an indefinite strike after the management refused to sign a new collective agreement with the same conditions for 2012.
ROMANIA: On January 24, Electrolux employees went on a general indefinite strike after the company management refused to conclude a new collective agreement with all provisions from the previous contract. Representing the workers the Free Trade Union SAMUS, a member of the IMF Romania affiliate Trade Union Federation METAROM, is demanding a 24 Euros wage increase for every employee starting from January 2012 and another 25 Euros increase starting from September; however the parties did not come to an agreement.
The protest actions started from a two hour warning strike on January 19 with no reaction from the management. On January 24 workers announced a general indefinite strike. The leader of the Free Trade Union SAMUS, Sorin Faur, declared "no matter the duration of the strike and the consequences, the people are determined to go on". In addition, the union also organized side actions including a rally in the town of Satu Mare and protest meetings.
The Electrolux plant in Satu Mare, County of Maramures produces kitchen and cleaning appliances and equipment and is the biggest Romanian enterprise in its sector.
The IMF has sent a strong message of solidarity support to the striking workers of Electrolux in Romania and calls on the affiliates to convey their solidarity messages in order to get a quick and fair solution of this dispute.
Send your solidarity messages to Mircea Scintei, FSS Metarom President at [email protected] and [email protected] with a copy to the IMF at [email protected].