ROMANIA

Country: Romania

Trade union and local organiser:
Federation of Free Metro Workers and Civil Aviation (USLM & CA) / Liliana Coica – President of the USLM & CA Women’s Committee

Guests:
Brigitta Paas – Member of the ETF Women’s Committee, President of the ETF Inland Navigation section, member of the ETF Executive Committee; Cristina Tilling – ETF political secretary for gender equality

Programme:
USLM & CA organised a visit to one of the maintenance workshops of METROREX company where women account for 35% of the total workforce (240 workers out of 700) and to one of the company depots. Both units have been privatised and will be taken over by a foreign company. The main concern of the women working there is job-loss following the transfer of ownership. Many of them are passed the age of 40 and have no other qualifications and therefore their job prospects are very narrow. In the presence of the company management and the trade union Executive Board, members of the USLM & CA Women’s Committee gathered together to debate to what extent the European and national gender legislation addressed gender discrimination at workplace. Gender mainstreaming at the level of collective bargaining is THE WAY to address specific problems at company level. One of the conclusions was that in some areas Romania is much better placed in what concerns women’s rights and social protection. However, the socio-economic circumstances prevent women workers to fully benefit by the advantages provided by law. The USLM & CA Women’s Committee members found very useful the exchange of information with the Dutch colleague and expressed their wish to have regular exchanges with women transport workers from the Netherlands.