2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Romania

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 4

Wizz Air dismisses union members:

Wizz Air is a low-cost airline based in Central and Eastern Europe. On their website, the company proudly says: "we believe that people make all the difference" and that they "believe in high ethical standards driven by an excellent team-player approach". However, that "ethical" approach does not seem to include the acceptance of trade unions defending workers' rights.

Earlier this year, a couple of courageous cabin crew members decided to set up a trade union at Wizz Air. One month after they formally announced the foundation of a trade union, its President, Mircea Constantin, was dismissed on false disciplinary grounds. The Vice-President and Secretary of the trade union, Claudiu Bita and Denisa Chelu, were suspended for 2 weeks on the ground that "their involvement in the trade union makes them a safety hazard during the flights".

The management of Wizz Air visited the company's hub in Bucharest and verbally confirmed that they will not accept any unions inside the company. The union was given one week to dissolve itself; otherwise, actions would be taken, namely the removal of one aircraft from Bucharest and consequently further lay-offs despite earlier growth announcements. After the deadline, the management sent a letter explaining that, given the situation, the company had decided to establish a new cabin crew employment company. That company would provide non-unionised workers for Wizz Air in Bucharest.

The pressure put forth by the company increased and many workers were afraid of losing their jobs. The management even contacted people during their days off to inquire about their position vis-à-vis the union. The situation reached a head on 4 November 2014 with the termination of 19 union members' contracts, mostly founding members, due to the "reorganisation and lower demand during the winter schedule".

Excessive requirements in respect to trade unions' representativity or minimum number of members required to bargaining collectively:

To be representative at the national level, Art. 51 of Act No. 62 concerning Social Dialogue requires cumulative membership of at least 5 per cent of the labour force and territorial structures in more than half of the national municipalities. At enterprise level, the requirement is a membership of at least 50 per cent plus one of the workers of the enterprise.

Exclusion of certain matters from the scope of bargaining:

In the public sector the following subjects are excluded from the scope of collective bargaining: base salaries, pay increases, allowances, bonuses and other staff entitlements which are fixed by law (Section 3(b), Act 284/2010). However, Art. 138(4) of Act No. 62 concerning Social Dialogue, allows that in cases where wage entitlements are established in special laws, the concrete wages are determined by collective bargaining, within the legal limits.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.