Bucharest Court rules subway workers’strike not legal

The Bucharest Court ruled on Wednesday that the subway workers’ protest is not legal. The Court sentence is executory and the subway employees are to resume activity. The decision can be appealed against within ten days.

After learning of the court ruling, subway union leader Ion Radoi announced the protesters will observe the law and the subway will resume running early on Thursday.

He stressed, however, that the conflict remains open, with the negotiations to be resumed, since – he said – in two or three weeks the same situation could be reached, if claims are not solved.

The Bucharest subway operated on Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 p.m. only, causing traffic havoc in Bucharest. On the first day of the all-out strike, Metrorex subway company managing director Gheorghe Udriste filed two claims to court, one on the suspension of the strike and another on the lawfulness of the subway workers’ protest. Some 650,000 passengers were affected by the protests. The Bucharest subway workers had decided to go on indefinite all-out strike over demands for pay rises.