Museum and library employees will launch a warning strike starting Thursday: What the union leader in Alba Iulia says

Preparation steps have begun for the warning strike of museum and library employees that will take place on Thursday, April 4. They are unhappy because of the underfunding of culture and wages.

“The preparations start today and on Thursday we are going to start a warning strike. We will wear white armbands. The main reason that triggered the strike is the underfunding of culture and the major discrepancy with the education system. When salaries were increased in the educational system, implicitly also for those in the museums in the university system, a discrepancy of 30% was created between them and the people in the same position in the national museums. This discrepancy created dissatisfaction and we started negotiations with the Ministry of Culture who promised us that by April 1 the problem would be resolved. But nothing happened, so we start the strike steps, which will culminate with the Night of the Museums, if the problems are not solved,” stated Dragoș Ursu, the leader of the union of museums in Alba Iuliafor ziarulunirea.ro.

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Among the demands of the National Federation of Trade Unions in Culture and the Press:

The remedy of moral and salary discrimination generated by GEO 128/2023 and the urgent equalization of similar positions in the system of museums and public libraries;
Allocation of a budget of 0.4 – 0.5 of GDP to the cultural sector with a fair distribution to museum institutions and libraries;
Fixing the current anomalies in the salary system for the staff in cultural institutions – equalization with performance institutions;
Annual indexation of the salaries of staff paid from public funds in cultural institutions, with the inflation rate;
Additional payment of staff from cultural units/institutions involved in revenue-generating activities for the state budget, as well as staff involved in attracting funds for projects with European funding;
Financial compensation consisting of additional payment for the work performed on Saturdays and Sundays, but also on public holidays, by the staff of museums and public libraries, who sacrifice their family life throughout their career;
Respect, consultation and involvement of legal social dialogue partners in the legislative activity that is likely to produce effects in the field.

The emergency ordinance that would have increased their salaries, from April 1, was not put to a vote, as expected. According to the president of the National Federation of Culture and Press Trade Unions, Georgel Balaci, the minister promised them that it would be on the agenda of the government meeting on Thursday, but it did not happen. That is why, on Thursday, the employees will start the protests.

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The employees of the libraries and museums, which do not belong to the Ministry of Education, but to the Occupational Family “Culture” sector, will boycott the Night of the Museums. The international event takes place annually on May 18, and they will spend the beginning of next week on strike, because the Minister of Culture, Raluca Turcan, promised them salary increases from April 1, but this did not happen. Georgel Balaci, the trade union leader of the National Federation of Trade Unions in Culture and Mass Media affiliated to the National Trade Union Confederation “Cartel ALFA” (CNS Cartel ALFA), says that they had several rounds of discussions with Raluca Turcan after which they chose only with…promises. For this purpose, they also drew up a document in which the grievances and intentions of the trade unionists are found.