Romania: A collective conflict was stopped before the strike was declared

The Union Federation has notified the local Labour Inspectorate on the declaration of the collective conflict and the Labour Inspectorate assigned a representative for the mandatory conciliation meeting. The registration of the collective conflict was challenged in both administrative and judicial procedures. The Social Dialogue Law doesn’t include specific rules or procedures to be followed when challenging the registration of the collective conflict as it does for the strike. The administrative claim was handled faster than the court case and the Labour Inspectorate changed the initial resolution on the registration of the collective conflict. The Labour Inspectorate has notified both the Company and the Union Federation that a collective conflict cannot be registered in situations where there is an existing Collective Agreement even if the negotiations for an addendum to the existing Collective Agreement fail to result in consensus. It was the first time the Labour Inspectorate has overcome an initial resolution on the registration of a collective conflict, preventing the strike before it was declared.