Romanian Arms Industry Employees Protest: We Want Decent Wages!

In the context of the cold conflict between Ukraine and Russia, hundreds of Romanian workers at the Cugir Mechanical Plant, Western Romania, stopped working and protested for higher wages. The weapon factory in Cugir produces infantry weapons of all sorts.

On February 11, the workers started protesting, demanding decent wages. Due to poor salaries, the Cugir Mechanical Plant workers claim that wages are so low that they can only cover the heat and electricity costs.

According to Stiripesurse.ro, one of the workers claimed that after 20 years of work, she received an advance of 100 Euro and a remaining payment of 254 Euro. Another employer said that after more than 40 years of working in the factory for “special products”, he received only 323 Euro.

The protesters demand, first of all, an increase in salaries and justice for all the years dedicated to the armaments industry. The Board of Directors of the Cugir Mechanical Plant should meet on Monday, February 14, to solve the issue.

On the sidelines of the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Romania, as a NATO member, plays an important strategic military role in the eastern part of Europe, one of Romania’s armament factories is slowed down by such problems. It is an undesirable problem that Romania is confronted with, especially in the armaments industry. Although Romanian President Klaus Johannis states that the Romanian army is prepared for any situation, one of the essential weapons factories shows the contrary.