Starting next week the Unions and the Government will negotiate a gradual rise in the national minimum salary, it was announced at a recent meeting of the National Commission on Collective Consultations and Negotiations. The National Confederation of Trade Unions (CNSM) said in a press release that the unionists asked the Government to consider the possibility of gradually raising the national minimum monthly salary as follows: to 900 lei from October 1; 1,000 lei from 1 January 2013; 1,200 lei from 1 September 2013; and to the size of the minimum subsistence level from 1 January 2014. CNSM vice president Petru Chiriac recalled that last time the Government revised the minimum salary was in 2009, when it rose from 400 to 600 lei. Meanwhile, from 2009 to 2011, consumer prices rose by 15.5%, GDP by 15.1%, and the minimum subsistence level by 26%. CNSM president Oleg Budza noted that today the national minimum salary is just 41% of the minimum subsistence level, which stands at 1,455.7 lei “The state has an obligation to take steps so that every person can have a decent living which includes a good health and well-being for the person and his or her family” stated Oleg Budza, adding that the minimum salary should increase at least by 200 lei. Further, the unionists propose that the minimum monthly wage in the real sector should be raised to 1,500 lei from October 1 and that bonuses for exposure to hazards at the workplace should be increased depending on the degree of the hazard.