Romania lacks a strike culture

Romanian trade unions called on public sector employees to stage a general strike on Monday in protest at government plans to cut salaries by 25 percent from June. The daily România Liberă complains that fewer workers than hoped for participated and bemoans the lack of a strike culture in Romania: "Out of laziness or perhaps fear the Romanians prefer to get all worked up at home instead of in front of the government. ... It was mainly the trade union leaders rather than the rank and file who pushed for their interests. And then there is no revolutionary culture here, which is also why so few were troubled by the communist repressive regime and so many accepted the three dictatorships of the inter-war period. … Throughout their history the Romanians have ... preferred behind-the-scenes arrangements and intrigues: The poor were too poor to defend themselves and the elites learned from the past that betrayal is less costly than revolt."

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