The General Council of the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM), convened on Thursday, December 19, in the premises of the Trade Union House, approved several important decisions concerning the activity of the trade union movement in the Republic of Moldova. The meeting was attended by Alexei Buzu, Minister of Labor and Social Protection, and Elena Țîbîrnă, Director General of the National Social Insurance House of the Republic of Moldova.

The agenda of the meeting included the following issues: on the validation of the mandates of the members of the General Council of the CNSM; on the representation norm of the member-organizations of the CNSM in the General Council of the CNSM; on the modification of the nominal composition of the General Council of the CNSM; on the implementation of the CNSM Strategy for 2022-2027 in the period from June 2022 to December 2024; on the Action Plan of the CNSM for 2025 in order to implement the CNSM Strategy for 2022-2027.

At the meeting, CNSM President Igor Zubcu presented a comprehensive and detailed report on the actions of the CNSM to ensure the social-economic and legal protection of trade union members carried out in the period from June 2022 to December 2024, including the main events that marked the activity of the trade union movement during the period.

Thus, at the insistence of the trade unions, starting September 1, 2022, a single minimum wage in the country was established, and the minimum wage in the country was increased by 42.9% from 3500 lei to 5000 lei.

In the 2022-2024 period, several reference values for calculating the salaries of employees in the budgetary sector were increased, new salary bonuses were introduced, and specific bonuses for some categories of employees were increased. As a result, the average monthly salary of employees in the budgetary sector increased by 37% over this period.

The formula for reviewing old-age pensions for pensioners who continue to work has also been changed. At the proposal of the trade unions, maternity allowance and monthly allowance for raising a child up to the age of 3 years will be calculated from the insured income of one of the spouses, which will result in a higher amount of the allowance. The one-off childbirth allowance has been increased up to 20,000 lei (by 98.6%).

The trade union leader emphasized that important results have been achieved in the field of social partnership. On July 29, 2022, the collective bargaining agreement (national level) No. 20 “On development and promotion of social partnership” was concluded. At the CNCNC meeting on January 26, 2024, the social partners at the national level (Government, CNSM, CNPM) signed the Declaration on supporting the course of European integration of the Republic of Moldova. On November 28 this year, the CNSM and the CNPM concluded the bipartite collective agreement (national level) No. 1 “On the establishment of the amount of the minimum wage for the units of the real sector of the national economy”, which provides for the establishment, as of January 1, 2025, for the units of the real sector of the national economy, of the minimum wage in the amount of 6000 lei per month.

Following the repeated insistence of the CNSM, on July 31 this year, the Parliament adopted Law No. 234/2023 (in force as of September 11, 2023), which provides for the exemption of trade unions from paying the state registration fee – a highly significant achievement for the trade union movement.

In his address to the members of the General Council of the CNSM, Igor Zubcu, President of the CNSM, informed that on September 12, 2024, the CNSM submitted to the ILO a Complaint against the Government of the Republic of Moldova for non-compliance with the provisions of Art. 3 of ILO Convention no. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, Art. 1 and Art. 2 of ILO Convention No. 98 on the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organize and to Bargain Collectively, in the context of the situation of anti-union interference admitted by the administration of the National Centre for Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Assistance .

As a reminder, the General Council of the CNSM is the governing body between the Congresses and carries out its activity on the basis of its own Regulations. The General Council of the CNSM determines the trade union policies for the realization of the Strategy and Program of actions established by the Congress.

The members of the CNSM General Council approved the Action Plan of the CNSM for 2025 to realize the Strategy of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova for 2022-2027. It provides the following objectives:

  • To promote the establishment of a minimum wage in the amount of 50% of the average wage in the economy and the adoption, as urgent as possible, of a Government Decision on the establishment of the stages of the minimum wage review in the period 2025-2027.
  • Promote the improvement of the legal framework in the area of wages in the real sector and in the budgetary sector, in order to ensure fair wages.
  • Promote the improvement of the law on the public pension system to ensure a decent living for all pension beneficiaries.
  • Promote the improvement of the legal framework on compulsory health insurance.
  • Strengthen social partnership in the sphere of work at all levels.
  • Promote the elaboration of an action plan to cover around 80% of employees through collective bargaining.
  • Not to allow the liberalization of labour legislation to the detriment of the rights and interests of employees, under the pretext of developing the business environment and investment climate.
  • Promote the ratification of ILO Convention No. 156 “Concerning Equal Treatment and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women Workers: Employees with Family Responsibilities”.
  • Promote the most urgent amendment of the Contravention Code in order to establish liability for violations of trade union law and of trade union rights guaranteed by law and trade union statutes.
  • Increase the visibility of trade unions at all levels.

Among the demands that will be addressed to the Government of the Republic of Moldova were also mentioned: amending the legal framework on the exercise of unskilled activities of a casual nature carried out by day laborers by introducing the voucher mechanism; granting one-off allowances for young specialists in the field of social assistance, public service and other areas of the real sector for specialties that are in demand in rural areas; improving the mechanism for granting meal vouchers and broadening the range of services that can be provided to employees through vouchers; speeding up the implementation of the electronic register of employees for all establishments in the national economy, as well as other requests.

Those present engaged in a dialogue with Alexei Buzu, Minister of Labor and Social Protection, and Elena Țîbîrnă, General Director of the National Social Insurance House of the Republic of Moldova. During the discussion, trade union representatives raised various questions regarding the social insurance system, the need to address existing inequalities in the salary system within the public sector, the organization of employee health maintenance, and the priorities for collaboration in 2025.

As a reference, the General Council of the CNSM is the governing body between the Congresses and carries out its activity on the basis of its own Regulations. The General Council of the CNSM determines the trade union policies for the realization of the Strategy and Program of actions established by the Congress.