Thousands of public sector workers across Romania halted work on Thursday in a coordinated protest against the government’s draft law on unified pay, which they say would slash allowances by up to 4,000 lei (€800) a month and erode professional dignity. Finance ministry staff, tax authority employees, pension fund clerks and court registrars joined walkouts that ran from 08:00 to 16:00, while emergency services announced the “largest protest in their history” for later this month. “This is a revolt for dignity,” declared Vasile Marica, a union representative at the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), whose offices in county seats displayed placards reading “Revoltă pentru demnitate!” and “O zi fără finanțe.”
The draft law would replace a complex system of allowances—including night, risk and performance bonuses—with a single base salary, a change unions argue disproportionately targets lower-paid staff. “A 4,000-lei cut is not a reform; it is a pay cut,” said Marica . Grefiers in courts and prosecutors’ offices, whose activity was suspended between 08:00 and 12:00, warned that real wages have been frozen for a decade and could be frozen for five more under the new rules .
Ambulance crews, represented by the National Trade Union “Ambulanța din România,” announced a mass protest in Bucharest next week after the law threatened to eliminate risk bonuses that can reach 30% of base pay. “We will not accept a system that makes saving lives a loss-making profession,” said union president Adrian Curaj .
Minister of Labour Dragoș Pîslaru, attending ongoing negotiations at his ministry, signalled a possible retreat on one contested element: the “dirigenție” bonus for teachers. The draft had proposed scrapping the performance-related supplement, which currently ranges from 15% to 30% of salary. Pîslaru told reporters he would seek a fixed amount to ensure fairness for early-career educators .
The protests coincide with a European directive, effective 7 June 2026, that bans salary secrecy across EU member states, including Romania. The new rules require employers to disclose pay ranges on request and justify gender pay gaps, a transparency push that unions hope will bolster their case against the unified-pay draft .
Thousands of Romanian public workers strike against pay-cut law