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Romania Military Labor
The government traditionally relied on the military as
a
reserve labor force for gathering harvests and building
railroads.
In the 1980s, however, the armed forces became
increasingly
involved in other areas of the civilian economy. The use
of
military units in the civilian sector was practically a
necessity
in view of Romania's severe economic difficulties. To
alleviate the
chronic labor shortage and to overcome occasional labor
unrest and
other disruptions, the regime used the military as a corps
of
engineers on 170 important public construction projects.
During the
mid-1980s, military commanders and troops were deployed in
power
plants and energy-related industries to maintain order and
to
ensure the regime's control over the critical energy
sector
(see Energy
, ch. 3).
In 1988 Ceausescu stated that 50 percent of active duty
military personnel worked on civilian projects at some
point during
their service. Troops worked on the Bucharest-Danube
Canal, the
Agigea Lock on the Danube-Black Sea Canal, the bridge over
the
Danube between Fetesti and Cernavoda, the
Constanta-Mangalia
railroad, the Iron Gates II hydroelectric plant, the
Bucharest
subway, the Palace of the Republic, and the Ministry of
National
Defense building. Troops worked almost continuously on
irrigation,
land reclamation, and reforestation projects.
Data as of July 1989
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