AFTER SUING "TRANSGAZ" Unionists are also claiming in court their rights to share the profit of "Romgaz"

The "Gaz România" Union Federation is suing "Romgaz", requesting that the company pay 10% of its profits to its employees, after filing a similar lawsuit against "Transgaz", according to Cătălin Muşoi, first vice-president of the union.

According to him, the lawsuit against "Romgaz" is scheduled to take place on September 15th in Sibiu, and the one against "Transgaz", for September 14th.

Cătălin Muşoi, first vice-president of the "Gaz România" Union Federation told us that the employees of "Romgaz" and "Transgaz" have mandated the union to represent their interests in court.

Mr. Muşoi explained that the Collective Labor Contract of every employee of companies controlled by the Ministry of the Economy, such as "Transgaz" and "Romgaz", there is a clause which stipulates that the employees would be paid up to 10% of its profit upon its distribution. He has, however, said that the Năstase government has changed that provision through a Government Ordinance, capping the dividends per employee to a maximum of one monthly wage per employee. At the same time, Cătălin Muşoi has said that the companies need to fulfill two conditions to distribute part of their profits to employees: the company must be profitable and owe not debts to the state budget.

In the case of "Transgaz", Cătălin Muşoi said that the provisions concerning the ratio for share for the employee profit sharing were honored each year that the company was profitable. However, he added that, following a budget revision performed through a Government Decision in the month of May 2010, the amount allotted for the employee profit sharing program "has suddenly disappeared", which in his opinion means that the state has appropriated the profit which was supposed to be distributed to employees. Cătălin Muşoi said that the amount was eliminated from the accounting records and has ended up in the profit account of the main shareholder of the company, the Ministry of the Economy.

Elisabeta Ghidiu, the communications manager of "Transgaz", said that the Revenue and Expense Budget (BVC) for the year 2010, which was approved through a government decision, in the beginning of last year, stipulated that employees would receive 10% of the company"s profit. However, later, following the revision of the Budget through a government decision in the month of May, those provisions were eliminated, according to Elisabeta Ghidiu. He said that as a result, the company has been forced to obey the decisions of the government ordinance, and "Transgaz" was no longer able to pay the dividends to its employees out of the provisions created for this purpose for the year 2010 (ed. note: the expenses pertaining to the employee profit sharing were recorded as provisions in the balance sheet).

Also, Elisabeta Ghidiu expressed her hope that the lawsuit would be finalized by the next deadline for the payment of dividends of October 17th, 2011.

Ioan Stoicovici, the president of the "Romgaz" Free Union, said that the situation at "Romgaz" was similar to that of "Transgaz", following a budget revision through a Government decision made last year. He added that there was a lack of transparency from the state in this case, and that he wished better communication had existed between the unions and the Government. He also said that "the actions against the employees of Romgaz were cowardly", and added: "We are not asking for anything else than what we rightly deserve".

According to the National Authority for the Regulation of the Energy Market (ANRE), "Romgaz" is one of the two most important internal sources of natural gas in Romania, with 38.93% of the total volume of natural gas originating from the domestic market, together with "OMV Petrom".

Last year, "Transgaz" made a net profit of 376.3 million lei, up 23% over 2009.

The Ministry of the Economy owns 73.5% of the company. The Proprietatea Fund owns 14.98%, whereas several other shareholders own 11.5% of the shares.

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In H1 2010, "Romgaz" doubled its profit YOY, from approximately 225 million lei to 488 million lei.

The Ministry of the Economy owns 85% of Romgaz, and the Proprietatea Fund owns 15%.

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According to art. 1 par. (1) of the Government Ordinance no. 64/2001 concerning the allocation of profit in national companies, and companies in which the state is the sole or majority shareholder, as well as in public corporations, approved with amendments through the Law no. 769/2001, with its subsequent amendments and modifications, starting with the 2004 fiscal year, in national companies, and companies in which the state is the sole or majority shareholder, as well as in public corporations, the profit left after deducting the profit tax will be allocated for the following purposes, unless any special laws stipulate differently:

"Art. 1. - (1) Starting with the 2004 fiscal year, in national companies, and companies in which the state is the sole or majority shareholder, as well as in public corporations, the profit left after deducting the profit tax will be allocated for the following purposes, unless any special laws stipulate differently:

a) legal reserves;

b) other reserves representing tax breaks stipulated by the law;

c) covering accounting losses from previous years;

c1) setting up the company"s own financing sources for projects co-financed using external loans, as well as for setting up the sources needed to reimburse capital principals, interests, commissions and other fees pertaining to these foreign loans;

d) other allocations stipulated by the law;

e)employee profit sharing;

national companies, and companies in which the state is the sole or majority shareholder, as well as public corporation which have committed to share profit with their employees and have included it in the revenue and expense budgets, following the services of their employees, can distribute up to 10% of their net profit, but no more than the average monthly wage paid by the company in question during fiscal year used as a reference.