Finance Workers Protest Wage Cuts and Unpaid Bonuses

Workers stage a demonstration outside Romania's Finance Ministry -- a continuation of last night's spontaneous sit-in.

This comes as a rumbling dispute over wage cuts and unpaid bonuses turns increasingly acrimonious.

The Finance Ministry employees say their low wages are not enough to live on, and that they are suffering financial hardship.

[Mihaela, Romanian Protester]:
"We are starving here; it's better to not even come to work. Then at least I will save on the cost of transport. All of this is terrible; they are lying all the time. They are telling us to leave the country but why should we leave? They should leave. They are 200, we are 22 million."

But the Finance Minister, under pressure to deliver sweeping austerity measures, defended his decision to refuse bonuses to cash-strapped employees.

His response to boos from demonstrators, and chants of “thieves” and “solidarity," The protests are against the law.

[Gheorfhe Ialomiteanu, Romanian Finance Minister]:
"This action is illegal. Those who are not respecting the law will face the consequences."

The government cut public sector salaries by 25% over the summer in an effort to reduce the budget deficit.

The austerity measures have left the government deeply unpopular and facing a no-confidence vote in parliament later this month.