The Political and Economic Context

In the context of the austerity package presented by the new Bolojan government (the faction of capital that emerged victorious after this year’s elections), the main trade union organizations are responding with their own “package” of reforms. The main objectives concerned the reduction of the budget deficit, which stands at 9.3% of GDP, one of the highest in the EU. The main targets of the austerity measures are public sector workers, who will see their salary bonuses significantly reduced, their salaries frozen for two years and, in some cases, an increase in working hours. It is natural that such a project is accompanied by the rhetoric of the capitalist class, which presents the situation as if the nation were in danger and all citizens had to make a collective effort to save it from ruin. First of all, it should be noted that this debt has been largely covered over the years by loans granted by capitalists at considerable interest rates: even a budget deficit can be a profitable business!

In 2021, the Romanian state was in a relatively favorable budgetary position compared to today, with a public debt of €142.5 billion and annual economic growth of 5.7%, conditions that allowed it to obtain loans at interest rates of 2-3% (for a total expenditure of €3.4 billion, representing 1.5% of GDP and 3.9% of state expenditure); the situation in 2025 differs significantly. In the first four months of 2025 alone, Romania spent more than €4 billion on debt, €600 million more than in the whole of 2021! In percentage terms, these expenditures accounted for about 8% of total government spending during this period (1.1% of GDP). Romania’s economic growth rate in 2025 is also significantly lower than three years ago, estimated at between 1.6% and 1.8% by the European Commission.

The shift to a precarious budgetary situation is largely due to the global economic crisis, which Romania cannot escape. However, the Romanian case has specific conditions that deserve attention. Romania’s position as a state located on the eastern front of NATO and the EU and the dependence of Romanian capital on European capital mean that any political instability or attempt to move closer to Eastern capital (represented by Russia and China) worsens the existing crisis. For this reason, both during last year’s election circus and this year’s, when the elections were repeated, the Romanian stock market fluctuated depending on which faction seemed likely to win (declines if the “sovereignists” seemed to be winning, rises if a pro-European victory seemed likely, which is what ultimately happened). Already after the first round of the presidential elections, the state was unable to find creditors on the market, even though it was willing to pay interest rates above 7.5%. Long-term rates reached 7.8%. However, the reasons for the crisis are not so much determined by the so-called “political crisis” of the last year, as some pro-European or sovereignist activists claim. The trend toward higher public debt had begun in Romania even before the “political crisis.”

Romania entered the EU’s excessive deficit procedure as early as 2020, but failed to meet the targets agreed with Brussels until 2021. In 2024, Romania’s deficit was the highest in the EU, at 9.3% (the target was 2.9%). The average annual interest rate in those years was above 6%. The EU forecast for Romania’s deficit this year is 8.6% (the target is 7%). In March 2025, public debt exceeds 55% of GDP, Romania pays the highest interest rates in the EU (7.8%, slightly decreased after the presidential victory of the “pro-EU” faction) and also has the highest level of inflation in the Union. The bourgeois press blames the so-called “political class,” which allegedly has an interest in spending public funds on social assistance to keep its electorate loyal. Similarly, economists argue that the “recipe” for success is to reduce government spending. A similar motivation (blaming the political class) can also be found among union leaders. The difference is that the latter do not preach austerity, but oppose it in a superficial and demagogic way. All these factions have one thing in common: they defend the system that enslaves workers, capitalism. The difference lies in tactics, not content.

So who is responsible for this deficit? If we believe the media, the shortfall was caused by too many civil servants, as well as by the corruption of politicians. Some more honest bourgeois journalists mention tax evasion, estimated at 10% of GDP. But who benefits from non-payment of taxes? Who bribes politicians? Certainly not public sector workers! It is members of the capitalist class, who want to share less surplus value with the state, going so far as to hire workers without contracts, create ghost companies, and avoid any state control. For example, the ANAF (National Agency for Fiscal Administration) has discovered that tens of thousands of Romanian companies are registered at the same address!

Since any “moralizing” action by the state could also affect a few bourgeois, we are constantly told that “we are all in the same boat.” All bourgeois economists with a shred of sincerity recognize that the increase in VAT on all goods, as well as the tax on bank turnover, will result in the additional costs being shifted onto the shoulders of workers through price increases. The increase in housing prices (which have already reached an unaffordable level), together with the increase in VAT (from 9% to 21% for homes under €130,000 and from 19% to 21% for others) and the increase in loan rates, will further worsen the housing problem.

The liberalization of the energy market, eliminating state subsidies for electricity consumption, will even lead to a doubling of energy bills for some consumers!

All these austerity measures are being applied in an already precarious context for many Romanians, so that, according to the BNS trade union, in 2024:

„- one in five Romanians was affected by poverty,

– one in six Romanians will not have access to essential goods and services,

– €382 per month will be the poverty threshold, with 3.5 million people living below this threshold,

– 14.5% of households will have accumulated arrears in paying their bills, compared to the EU average of 6.9%,

– Energy prices were the fifth highest in the European Union, at equal purchasing power”.

Reactions to the austerity reforms came from the most influential trade unions, such as Cartel ALFA, CNSLR-Frăția, SANITAS, and those in the education sector (ALMA MATER and SPIRU HARET).

Despite the supposed unanimous opposition to austerity, the measures taken by Romanian unions to counter the fiscal package imposed by the government do not seem to go beyond small strikes lasting only a few hours. However, these protests have brought thousands of workers onto the streets, involving workers from sectors such as environmental hygiene, education, finance, and healthcare, with threats of further protests also coming from the Bucharest Transport Company. Most of the protests had a single demand: to maintain bonuses, such as those granted to workers operating in arduous conditions. There were calls to “tax capital and large properties, not workers”.

One protest that deserves special attention is that of education workers, who, despite representing a public sector that has been underfunded to date, have been among those most affected by the new package of measures.

Protests by Education Workers

The Federation of Free Education Trade Unions, the Federation of Education Trade Unions “SPIRU HARET,” and the National Trade Union Federation “ALMA MATER” have declared their opposition to the state’s economic measures, but with what means? Protests aimed at prompting social dialogue, not actual strikes. Thus, on June 18, 2025, in pre-university schools, higher education institutions, central university libraries, and research institutes, union members protested during their workplace activities, wearing a distinctive sign (armband, badge, etc.). Education unions are opposed to the unpaid increase of two hours per week in teaching hours (currently 20 hours for teachers and 16 hours for educators), the elimination of allowances for teachers with doctorates (a 50% increase in the national minimum wage), and staff cuts at national research and development institutes, measures that are part of the new government’s overall austerity package.

The protest on June 18 turned into a “work-to-rule”, with no interruption of workers’ activities. This form is often applauded by the bourgeois press because it does not disrupt the normal functioning of businesses. But for this very reason, such a strike will have no effect. As long as the reproduction of capital is not affected, the capitalist class will not feel threatened in any way.

These are the same unions that two years ago blocked the general education strike, without any of the teachers’ demands actually being met. The strategy used by these unions, and others, is to demoralize the proletariat by sending it on strikes, protests, and demonstrations that are preordained to fail, thus trying to convey the idea that it is not strong enough and that its demands should not go beyond negotiations with employers.

A significant fact related to this event is that, after the strike was called off, there were voices among the workers calling for the creation of new “free” unions, which shows that a section of the Romanian working class understands the role that the current unions play in keeping the proletariat in wage slavery. However, as of this writing, we do not know whether any steps have been taken in this direction to revive the working class’s economic struggle organizations by independent groups of proletarians.

Teachers’ protests continue, involving thousands of workers who are threatening a new general strike at the start of the fall school year.

Cartel ALFA, BNS. And “fiscal equity”

On June 12, 2025, the Cartel ALFA National Trade Union Confederation organized a protest at the Cotroceni Palace, seat of the Presidency of the Republic, to draw attention to the fact that the Romanian state intends to put financial pressure on the working class in an attempt to save itself from the economic crisis into which the country is slowly sliding. Of course, the economic crisis itself cannot be prevented by state intervention due to the nature of the capitalist system, but the state clearly has an interest in emerging from the crisis with as manageable a financial balance as possible.

Some of the Confederation’s demands – taken from the statement on its website – are as follows (bold not ours):

“- A fair tax reform, in which the burden is distributed correctly between capital and labor;

– The immediate suspension of austerity measures;

– A real and inclusive social dialogue, with the participation of all actors – trade unions, entrepreneurs, and civil society;

– An active Presidency, which mediates social conflicts and guarantees social justice.”

The response of the Cartel ALFA trade union confederation to the inevitability of the crisis (presented not as a logical consequence of the infernal cycle of capitalist overproduction, but as the mismanagement of a backward administrative apparatus) with the aim of “improving and modernizing social dialogue at all levels” is, in essence, a call to improve the method of managing state resources. In other words, the union leaders do not speak for the proletariat, but for the bourgeoisie; Cartel ALFA represents another arm of capitalist society, but one that is all the more insidious, considering the role that the leaders of this union must play at the moment, namely that of representatives of the workers.

We are therefore dealing with the same democratic illusions that the proletariat falls victim to in the absence of a revolutionary communist leadership. It would not be a question of classes with completely opposing interests, but of several groups that should sit at the same discussion table, with the “democratically” elected president as the referee.

Furthermore, the confederation informs us that “the response of the authorities consists of austerity measures, despite clear evidence that the deficit problem is essentially determined by the inability to collect taxes and by a backward tax system that does not ensure sufficient revenue to adequately support public infrastructure and the expenses necessary for the functioning of the state apparatus.”

It also states that public services are underfunded and that the state apparatus, far from being too bloated, is undersized compared to the European Union average. Problems of underfunding in sectors such as education, health, and railways are indisputable. For example, budget funding for railways, which has been minimal to date (infrastructure and trains that are decades old), was lower in 2025 than in the previous year, putting the company at risk of bankruptcy. In response, the state railway company CFR introduced a 4-day working week, with a salary reduction of €262 for 1,431 employees in sections with reduced traffic.

The tax system is also in a deplorable state, so it would take at least two years to implement progressive taxation, which is now being attacked by business federations. Various studies, funded by capitalists, show that the flat tax has been very beneficial for Romania! However, these studies fail to mention that Romania is one of only four EU countries without a progressive taxation system. The flat tax, together with legislation that prevents workers from organizing and going on strike, has helped transform Romania into a fertile ground for capital investment. Another great help to capitalists has been the low cost of labor they enjoy in Romania, given that, in 2025, Romanian workers’ wages (including social contributions) were 37% of the EU average.

The appeal of another trade union confederation, the National Trade Union Bloc, proposes a more detailed comparison of taxes in European countries and also brings a package of more concrete proposals, but these do not go beyond the limits of the bourgeois horizon. This, in the spirit of “European civil values,” justifies its opposition to austerity measures (we are not yet in a crisis serious enough to induce union leaders to support austerity; on the contrary, they pretend to show support for the politically unorganized proletariat through economic demands) with slogans linked to state reform, with the goal of “progress,” “modernization,” and “efficiency.” Thus, in addition to the demand to maintain VAT at its current level, the BNS proposes stricter controls against undeclared work (700,000 Romanians currently work without regular contracts and without any social insurance), a reduction in the high allowances of board members, and the taxation of multinationals on profits (as well as a ban on the outsourcing of profits to parent companies).

Of course, higher taxation of capital and the streamlining of the state apparatus will never be our demand! “Compromises on both sides” often mean compromises only for workers. We do not dream of a fictitious harmony between capital and labor, but of the abolition of capitalist relations of production. However, this does not mean that demands aimed at improving the living and working conditions of the proletariat and the economic struggles to implement them are not important. On the contrary, we recognize their necessity in uniting the proletariat in the defense of wages and their rights. Certainly, the historical role of trade unions is not exhausted, nor will it be following a socialist revolution.

In the imperialist era, economic struggles are transformed—much more rapidly than in the past—into political struggles, since their development and generalization come into direct conflict with the foundations of the capitalist regime. Consequently, any trade union organization is immediately confronted with the question of its attitude toward the capitalist state. It must either agree to limit the proletarian struggle within the bounds of legality—thus restricting and stifling it in order to preserve the existing order—or go beyond the limits of bourgeois legality and enter the revolutionary camp. This implies the extension, intensification, and generalization of the workers’ struggle to defend their living conditions.

We stated in our 1945 Platform that the trade union function is only complete when the class political party leads the trade union organizations.

The Romanian proletariat finds itself in a critical situation. In the absence of its own organ, the class political party, it is forced to kneel and capitulate in the face of the continuation of its exploitation in even more cruel ways. But this spiral of deterioration in its conditions will continue until the proletariat is forced by hunger and other deprivations to reclaim the class-based organizations of economic struggle, led in the future by the Communist Party.

Why? In the imperialist era, and because of the weakness of the communist movement, the state manages to contain the most combative sectors of the workers’ movement and to control the trade union form, so as to turn it against the proletariat. If the attitude in the infancy of capitalism was to combat any attempt at proletarian organization, this turned, after the victories won by workers on the economic front, into tolerance towards trade unions and finally into their organic integration into state structures. Thus, the trade union is transformed from a weapon of the proletariat into its leash, one of the many ties that bind it to the bourgeois state.

What is to be done? The class party, the International Communist Party, as the social brain of its class, has a duty to facilitate the process of rebirth of class unions.

In Romania, after the collapse of the Ceaușescu regime, the state replaced state unions with formally independent unions. For this reason, the possibility that a fraction of militant workers will grow numerically within a union and then take control of the organization (by force) is low, but not zero. However, whether the class union is reborn from the reconquest of existing ones or from scratch, the Party will organize communist factions within it with a view to taking over its leadership.

As a matter of fact, the mass of Romanian workers still sees the current trade union federations as weapons to defend their working conditions; the role of communists is to be present in the current unions, strongly opposing any decision by the union bureaucracy that is contrary to the interests of the working class.