As long as the Unions' requests are not accompanied by concrete plans related to financing sources, as everybody in the democratic world does, they can be considered arbitrary any time. The CFR (the Romanian Railways) employees cancelled the strike a couple of hours after it had started, though they didn't get a thing in exchange. It's true, out of a legal decision that was declaring the strike illegal. Even though they were assured that they would receive the third salary and the salary rights left undelivered from 1998, teachers decided to carry on the strike. The reason: promised money that never reached the school accounts, even if nobody confirmed that, but they are said to be delivered by the Finance Ministry. In fact, as everybody knows, this counter process can last even ten days. Of course, the teachers' two requests were not their only ones. The most important one was that of the reference salary doubling, a request that could lead to the teachers' salaries doubling, if Government approves that. There's probably much to negotiate, here. The Government promised teachers a wage increase of 50% for certain. With good reason, they can hardly put up with the most ordinary spending related to subsistence. It's interesting to see how the union leaders place their positions. They ask for something and that's it. By no means, the Government itself is to be blamed as it never asked the union leaders to give any solutions for salary increase financing with some exceptions, as the most of the democratic countries do. The European or American union offices have real armies of economists affiliated. When they come with a salary type of request, they also bring the necessary documentation clearly indicating the sources at the same time. In our case, only the "Solidaritatea" union of the engine drivers tried to do so, mostly under the public opinion pressure, at the end of