Trade union federations demand repeal of articles affecting education

Three representative federations - FSLI, "Spiru Haret” and "Alma Mater” - have launched a national campaign to collect signatures for a legislative initiative that aims to eliminate some provisions of Law no. 141/2025 on fiscal-budgetary measures. Trade unionists accuse the fact that the changes were introduced without public consultation and without an impact study, affecting the quality of the educational act and the rights of employees in the system.

• Provisions targeted for elimination

Among the changes that the federations consider harmful are: increasing the number of students in the classroom; increasing the teaching norm; reducing the hourly rate, to a level lower than that applied for 28 years; limiting the hours of relief for management, guidance and control personnel.

• Incentive measures for teachers in rural areas

In contrast, the project proposes to increase the installation bonus for tenured teachers who occupy positions in isolated or disadvantaged areas, from two to three basic salaries, a non-taxable amount, applicable from the 2026-2027 school year.

• 100,000 signatures, the legal threshold

For the initiative to be submitted to Parliament, a minimum of 100,000 signatures from at least a quarter of the country's counties are needed. After the Legislative Council's opinion and publication in the Official Gazette, the federations have six months to collect the necessary support. The project will then be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies.

Union leaders accuse politicians of hypocrisy and the constant discriminatory treatment of education: "Year after year, the Romanian school and its employees have been treated like the "Cinderella' of the budgetary system, the first to be sacrificed whenever deficit reduction measures were imposed. European education can no longer be achieved at Dâmboviţa costs.”

• Support from the entire society

The campaign targets not only teachers, but also parents, adult students, students and civil society. The unions warn that economic recovery must not be achieved by sacrificing educational personnel and destabilizing Romanian schools.