Taxi drivers and postmen are protesting in the capital

The protests of taxi drivers and postal workers that took place yesterday in the Capital show once again that February is the preferred month for trade union movements, which in 2024 were prefaced in January by the street protests of transport and agriculture employers.

The taxi drivers are protesting these days in Bucharest because they want the fast-forward amendment of the legislation that regulates the alternative transport of people, transport that they consider unfair competition to the activity they provide and a means of tax evasion. Remus Nedelcu, the president of the National Association of Taxi Transport Operators' Association (ANPOTRT), said, quoted by Agerpres, that today and tomorrow 1800 cars will participate in the protest (compared to the 800 that were yesterday in Constitution Square) , because "taximetry is on the verge of collapse", and if something is not done now "in the fall you won't have anyone to talk to in the taximetry field".

The representative of the taxi drivers who took to the streets want the Government to issue an emergency ordinance to amend law 204/2019 which approved GEO 49/2019 regarding alternative transport activities with cars and drivers. The main demands of the taxi drivers refer, among other things, to the limitation of compliant copies, based on criteria similar to those applied to the taxi service, the elimination of the possibility of issuing a compliant copy for cars held in cash or rented by alternative transport operators, the elimination of the "dynamic tariff" - request also made by the Competition Council in the report drawn up on this field of activity, the taxation of rides and commissions from alternative transport.

We mention that the representatives of a part of the taximeter employers submitted to the Government two weeks ago the amendments regarding the modification of GEO 49/2019 and gave the Executive a term of 30 days for the adoption of the respective normative act.

"The respective term is fulfilled on March 15 and that is why we requested the Mayor General of the Municipality of Bucharest to approve some protest actions, which will take place daily, from March 20-23 inclusive, in front of the Government headquarters, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry Transport", Vasile Ştefănescu, president of the Confederation of Operators and Authorized Transporters from Romania (COTAR), told BURSA newspaper.

Also yesterday, a protest by members of the Romanian Postal Workers Union, an organization affiliated with the National Union Bloc, took place in Bucharest. Romanian Post employees picketed the headquarters of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization due to the fact that the current management has not started the renegotiation of the collective labor agreement, a document that expires soon, the deadline for completing the renegotiation being February 29. Moreover, the employees of the Post Office are dissatisfied with the lack of a transparent, motivating and non-discriminatory salary system and show that 80% of the staff are paid the minimum wage in the economy, regardless of position, education, responsibilities and professional experience. The representatives of the above employees that the current management team of the Romanian Post does not have coherent policies for the development and sustainability of the company, that it shows a lack of transparency and predictability in the management act and that it refuses social dialogue.

We remind you that last week, Dumitru Costin, the president of the National Trade Union Bloc, requested the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization to dismiss the current management team from the Romanian Post and to make public the report of the control body that carried out checks at that company. If the demands of the union members are not resolved, they want to trigger a general strike, which could be legally started on April 1.

Compania Naţională Poşta Română is the market leader in the postal services sector and serves approximately 19 million Romanians, through an extensive network of 5,500 post offices. Currently, the company is owned by the Romanian state, represented by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, which owns 93.52% of the shareholding, the remaining 6.48% being owned by Fondul Proprietatea.