Trade unions demand that the authorities should allocate financial resources for providing the annual bonus to public sector employees for results achieved in 2020 and 2021. According to them, 2020 was a very difficult year and the salary earners worked in difficult conditions, some of them on half pay, and the lawmakers should take this into account. The demands were formulated in a protest mounted in front of the Parliament Building, where the MPs came together for a sitting, IPN reports.

Angela Otean, president of the Federation of Trade Unions of Moldova “Sindlex”, said that in 2020, which was a pandemic year, the employed people worked even more, but in the end the doctors didn’t benefit from the annual bonus of 5,000 to 8,000 lei. The trade unionists call on the authorities to take their demands into account and to provide all the public sector employees with bonuses.

Nadejda Buruiană, from Drăgușenii Noi village of Hâncești district, in the name of education sector employees called upon the lawmakers to think about the people working in the education system. She noted that the current salary cannot cover their basic needs and the bonus to which the salary earners are entitled should be paid.

Elena Țîra, of the Federation of Culture Trade Unions, said the people of culture have always been humiliated. “We do not want stars from the sky. We want our rights to be respected and want the Labor Code to be respected so that we get the annual bonus. A nation without culture is a hole,” stated Elena Țîra.

A number of representatives of the protesters went inside the Parliament Building. When going out after discussions, they said they were told that financial resources for the purpose weren’t earmarked in the 2020 state budget. A sum of over 600 million lei is needed for paying the annual bonus for 2020.

In a news conference, PAS MP Dan Perciun, who heads the Parliament’s commission on social protection, stated that the annual bonus for 2021 will be paid, as will be the bonus for 2022. The money for paying this bonus to all the public sector employees was planned in the state budget. The Chicu Government didn’t identify funds for covering the annual bonus for 2020 even if the former government promised to the trade unions they will do this. The over 600 million lei needed for paying the bonus for 2020 cannot be found now. The questions as to the bonus for 2020 should be put to the Chicu Government and the former parliamentary majority that didn’t deliver on its promise.