Trade unionists will continue negotiations with the Government to improve the socio-economic situation of women in the country

Members of the Council of Women of the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) met on Friday, February 26, to discuss the issues women are facing and have submitted to the authorities a number of requirements.
At the roundtable entitled “Social-economic protection of women –in trade unions’ attention” participated the minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family, representatives of the Ministry of Health and the State Labour Inspectorate, members of the Confederal Committee of CNSM.

Liuba Rotaru, president of the Council of Women of the CNSM, presented an analysis carried out by the Center Partnership for Development, developed with the support EEF, which comprises a series of data regarding wage levels among women and men in our country.
“According to the analysis, men’s income is 12% higher than women, and the number of unemployed women is 41% of the total unemployed”, said Liuba Rotaru.

The trade unionist stressed that government’s policies to reduce wage differences have not yet brought results.
Stela Grigoras, minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family informed about the priorities of the authorities in the social protection of women, wages, employment, ensuring a decent life for women, promoting gender equality in Moldova and underlined the importance of the development of social partnership.

“Over 170 thousand trade union members are women. For us it is very important to have effective cooperation with all social partners to improve living and working conditions of women in our country, conditions that still leave much to be desired, “said Oleg Budza, president of CNSM.
CNSM leader said that it is necessary to organize various meetings of this kind, involving the social partners to identify appropriate solutions to the problems women face.

At the end of the discussions, trade unionists adopted a Resolution that calls for increasing the minimum salary to the subsistence level, their emoluments at childbirth amounting to 6,000 lei and 6,500 lei for the following children, improving health care services for women.
They also have urged the authorities to increase the allowances for child care until the age of 3 from 30% to 40% of the average insured income, regulation of training opportunities for women returning to the work after parental leave.

Participants at the roundtable expressed their firm belief that social partners will take concrete actions to address the most pressing problems and improve the situation of women in Moldova.

Department of mass-media and international relations