BUCHAREST, May 26 (Reuters) - Romanian trade unions plan to stage a one-day general strike in the public sector in early June to protest against government plans to cut wages and pensions to comply with a 20 billion euro IMF-led aid deal.
"We aim to gather around 1 million people in a general strike across Romania the day parliament will discuss the IMF- backed measures," Marius Petcu, head of one of the country’s largest unions CNSLR Fratia, told Reuters.
Romania’s biggest trade unions decided on Wednesday to back an indefinite pay strike by around 350,000 teachers on May 31, followed by warning strikes by transport workers, railwayman, civil clerks and nurses in subsequent days.
The country’s public sector employs 1.3 million workers, a third of all jobs. Its payroll swallows 9 percent of GDP and analysts say the cost is twice as high as it should be.
