Meal allowances for police officers reduced in June

In June police officers will have their salaries reduced by 40 percent, according to trade unions.

The Minister of Interior, Traian Igaş, signed a new ordinance which provides that the meal allowances for the employees of the Ministry of Administration and Interior will be reduced by 500 lei.

The measure will be applied only in June, but Minister Traian Igaş is looking for solutions to solve the serious budget problems, after the Parliament rejected the draft for reducing the personnel.

The Minister of Interior, Traian Igaş, stated that the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would have their meal allowanced reduced by almost 550 lei only in June, but they would recover their money by the end of the year.

The Minister asked the trade union leaders not to misinform the employees of the Ministry and gave assurance that the employees’ salary rights would be only temporarily reduced.

Traian Igaş added that the Ministry would start laying people off within 30 days and confirmed once again his determination to go through with the reorganization process.

The Minister also said that he was working on each organizational chart and that positions would be made available.

He also stated that there had been no excellence salary granted during his mandate.

Following the reduction, trade unions estimate in June 40 percent will be slashed from the amount of money that police officers take home.

The President of the National Trade Union of Police Officers and Contract Personnel, Marian Gruia, said they would hold a protest on Monday.

‘Trade unions members have called us from different corners of the country and also from Bucharest, they have had enough. Their patience has run out. We can’t take it anymore. If last year they cut our salaries by 25 percent plus other rights, and the average was around 35 percent, this new cut will reduce salaries by 40 percent.’

The meal allowance, as a bonus, as a salary right granted to all employees from the public safety system, amounts to 40 percent of the net wage of a police officer’, Marian Gruia said.

Almost 10 000 employees of the Ministry of Interior should have left the system according to the bill on layoffs at the Ministry of Administration and Interior.

The bill has recently been rejected by the Chamber of Deputies, but the Minister of Administration and Interior, Traian Igaş, said that they would continue to look for solutions, and, if they were to fail in finding any, the salaries of the employees of the Ministry of Administration and Interior would be reduced by 30 percent.

Translated by: Raluca Mizdrea

MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University