Bucharest  - Striking autoworkers at Renault SA's Romanian plant rallied Thursday to press demands for higher pay, some carrying banners saying "We don't want to be the new slaves."

Workers at the plant, which makes budget-priced Dacia cars for Eastern European markets, walked out nearly three weeks ago after wage talks with company managers broke down.

Wages in Romania, a European Union member since last year, are a fraction of Western European levels. Some 5,000 Dacia workers took part in the protest in the industrial city of Pitesti, the Mediafax news agency reported.

In neighbouring Bulgaria, employees of a Czech-owned utility that supplies electricity to the capital, Sofia, walked off their jobs Thursday demanding a 25-per-cent pay hike, news reports said.

CEZ Group, which also powers much of western Bulgaria, said it expects no blackouts because only one-third of its employees are allowed to strike under Bulgarian law.

Pay talks between CEZ and its Bulgarian workers broke down Wednesday with employees saying the company's offer was too low.

Dacia's strikers are backed by Romania's main labour organization, the National Trade Union Bloc (BNS). A Romanian court Wednesday ruled that the walkout was legal, rejecting a company challenge.

Dacia has offered a monthly pay raise of about 394 lei (173 dollars). The union is seeking some 40 per cent more. Romanian autoworkers make about the equivalent of
400 euros (630 dollars) a month.

Dacia made some 230,000 vehicles last year, more than half of which were exported as the brand caught on among budget-conscious buyers in Western Europe, including France, Renault's home market. The plant's production is slated to expand to 350,000 cars this year.

In its court action, Dacia argued that the union failed to allow enough time for a negotiated settlement, and that the stoppage also broke the law because less than half of the 13,000 workers signed the strike petition.