Romania: Alcatel-Lucent employees organize in favor of the group’s restructuring program

Until last July, the Romanian employees of Alcatel-Lucent, subsidiary if the French group present in Timisoara for 18 years, didn’t have a trade union to represent them or defend their rights. This situation was far from being an exception: in Romanian businesses, the presence of a union is easily ignored. However, after their longstanding CEO left and because of a restructuring program providing for the transfer of 30% of the workforce to the Wipro Indian subcontractor, the Romanian employees finally decided to organize: in July, they created Alcatel-Lucent’s free union. “All these maneuvers took place without us knowing anything about them” explained Manuel Martin, leader of the brand new associations. “We realized that the good old times were gone and that we had to do something.” Six months after its creation, the union, which already has 350 members out of 1,600 employees, already obtained social guarantees from the management.
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ce without us knowing anything about them” explained Manuel Martin, leader of the brand new associations. “We realized that the good old times were gone and that we had to do something.” Six months after its creation, the union, which already has 350 members out of 1,600 employees, already obtained social guarantees from the management.

First collective labor contract. In November, the unionized employees met, to show solidarity with their German, Italian and French colleagues, to protest agains

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