Mediation and Conciliation in Collective Labor Conflicts in Romania

Abstract

In a non-unionized private company active in the banking industry, a collective labor conflict was notified by the employee representative for all its 800 employees, as a result of a refusal on behalf of the employer to accept a number of employee requests and the consequent impossibility to reach a consensus regarding the collective labor contract. The employee representative notified the territorial work inspectorate and requested the conciliation of the labor conflict, as a mandatory preliminary part in a possible escalation. Two meetings and one month were necessary for a satisfactory resolution of the conflict. Conciliation was initiated, and was conducted by a representative appointed by the Ministry of Labor. Negotiation meetings took place at the company headquarters, with three representatives of the employees, three representatives of the employer (the HR director, a legal counsellor and a conformity officer), and the conciliator appointed by the Ministry of Labor. Among their various requests, employees mainly required higher salaries and benefit packages (e.g., medical insurance). The representatives of the employer rejected all these requests and required that the provisions of the previous contract are kept in the new one. Their main argument was an economic one: they showed that if these requests were granted, the company might become insolvable and layoffs would be a direct consequence. They also showed that job security was high and that there was a clear commitment from the management to keep all current employees. Building on the economic calculations provided as arguments Dragos Iliescu and Andreea Butucescu-Both authors have contributed equally to this chapter.