Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Romania (Ratification: 1957)

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Legislative reform. The Committee recalls that it had previously requested the Government to amend certain provisions of Law No. 62/2011 (the Social Dialogue Act). It further recalls that, following the 2021 Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, which discussed the application of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), an ILO technical assistance mission was carried out in May 2022, at the end of which the Office prepared, at the request of the Government, a technical memorandum concerning the project to reform the Social Dialogue Act. The Committee notes the adoption of Law No. 367/2022 on Social Dialogue (Social Dialogue Act – SDA), which repeals Law No. 62/2011, and notes with satisfaction that it addresses some of the issues previously raised by the Committee, as detailed below. The Committee also notes the adoption of Law No. 283/2022 amending the Labour Code (Law No. 53/2003) and Emergency Ordinance No. 42/2023 amending and supplementing the SDA and the Labour Code.

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. Threshold requirements. The Committee had previously requested the Government to review the minimum membership criteria, taking into consideration the high prevalence of small and medium-sized enterprises in the country, so as to ensure the right of all workers to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. The Committee notes with interest that, in the SDA, the minimum threshold to form a union was lowered from 15 employees to 10 employees from the same employer or 20 employees from different employers belonging to the same bargaining sector. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of this amendment in practice and, in particular, to indicate its effect on the number of registered trade unions.

Non-standard forms of work. The Committee had previously requested the Government to take measures to ensure that workers engaged in non-standard forms of work can benefit from the trade union rights enshrined in the Convention. The Committee notes with satisfaction the Government’s indication that the scope of the SDA extends to all workers, regardless of their contractual situation, including workers with an individual employment contract, in a legal employment relationship, in a service relationship, civil servants and civil servants with special status, cooperative members and farmers, self-employed workers, as well as unemployed persons (sections 1 and 3 of the SDA).

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their administration, as well as their activities. In its previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to take measures to: (i) delete or amend section 2(2) of the SDA, according to which workers’ organizations shall not carry out political activities; and (ii) delete or amend section 26(2) in order to avoid excessive control of trade union finances (powers afforded to state administrative bodies to control the economic and financial activity and payment of debts to the state budget). The Committee observes that sections 154 and 26 of the newly adopted SDA continue to reflect the above provisions of the now repealed legislation. Noting that no progress has been made in this respect despite a legislative reform, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures so as to bring sections 26 and 154 of the Social Dialogue Act into conformity with the Convention.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.