Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu has announced on Tuesday that it was known, since May 2017, that in the case of 3% of the state employees, the wages would decrease, and she had announced this fact on several occasions. Lia Olguţa Vasilescu said that confusion was made between the unitary wage law and the amendments to the Tax Code.
“It is known since May last year that about 3% of the state employees will have wages decreased. I have announced this information many times in several interviews. (…) We did not start from the idea of decreases, but in order to comply with the ratio of 1 to 12, wage adjustments were required,” Lia Olguţa Vasilescu said on Tuesday.
The Labour Minister stressed that there was confusion between the wage law adopted in June 2017, enforced since July 1, and the amendments to the Tax Code regarding the social security contributions.
“The salary of the president determines the maximum level in the budgetary system and no other employee can exceed it. (…) The system will rebalance in 2022, so that the same position and grading will be paid at the same level,” Lia Olguţa Vasilescu said, adding that there are very large imbalances in the budgetary system and they have to be corrected.
The Labour Minister also said that wage increases started in 2017, totalling 22%, in some cases less, in others of up to 50%.
Vasilescu also argued that “90% of the employees in the budgetary sector want this wage law”.