On Wednesday, May 3, the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) leadership had a meeting with Veronica Sireţeanu, Minister of Finance, with the participation of representatives of the ministry and national-branch trade unions, during which the trade unionists presented a series of requests regarding the remuneration of employees in the budgetary sphere, and  social and economic protection of the population affected by multiple crises.

During the meeting, the trade unionists referred to the issues of implementation of alignment of minimum wage per country, in the budgetary sector, with the level of the minimum wage in the real sector, the establishment of a single reference value for all employees in the budgetary sector, and accelerating the systemic re-evaluation of the functions in the budgetary sector to reinstate equity and and eliminate the confusion when setting payroll classes. Reviewing the ranking of positions and pay classes, both internally and, compared to positions in other similar occupational groups, represents another particularly important issue addressed.

The trade unionists also advocated the increase of the pay classes of all employees in the budget sector, avoiding the fragmentation of certain categories of employees, the reintroduction of financial support in accordance with the provisions of Article 165¹ of the Labour Code, according to which the employer is entitled to grant annual financial aid to its employees. However, with the adoption of Law no. 270/2018, the employees of the budget sector are deprived of this right.

Another issue approached by the trade unionists was the need to revise Law 270/218 on the unitary pay system in the budgetary sector.

Igor Zubcu, President of CNSM, stressed the importance of setting the minimum wage of 50% of the average salary in the economy, in accordance with the provisions of the revised European Social Charter and the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, including the increase of salaries for employees in the education sector, and other budget sectors, so that their monthly average salary is, at least in aliment with the average monthly salary per country.

Veronica Sireteanu, Minister of Finance, informed about the current situation in the field of national policies in the field of finance and answered the questions asked by trade unionists. The minister stressed the importance of developing a constructive dialogue on common platforms, in order to identify the solutions related to the demands of the trade unionists.

In this context, we recall that in February, this year, CNSM requested the intervention of the Ministry of Finance to ensure compliance with the provisions of the legal framework and implementation of the measures provided by Law no. 270/2018 on the unitary system of salaries in the budgetary sector for all employees in the budgetary sector, by granting the necessary allocations.