Romania's national rail freight carrier CFR Marfa decided to send 6,380 employees home beginning on March 1, General Manager Mihai Frasinoi announced on Monday.
CFR Marfa has already submitted the restructuring plan to the Territorial Labor Inspectorate (ITM), said the manager.
"We have submitted our restructuring plan to the ITM, with the notice to be sent to employees on Feb. 8 and the final decision on March 1,"
Frasinoi was quoted as saying by the official Agerpres news agency.
The trade unions responded by saying they would challenge the decision, yet the Collective Labor Agreement contains no article guaranteeing
compensatory payments for laid-off employees. It means that, unless the government provides the money, these workers will be sent home with empty
pockets.
Due to the railway restructuring, altogether some 11,000 employees could be laid off, among whom 8,500 from CFR Marfa, 1,370 from the CFR
Calatori and 1,000 from the National Railway Company CFR SA. Since the beginning of 2010, some 4,700 employees from these three companies began to receive their pensions.
CFR Marfa is a railway company owned by the Romanian government via the Transport Ministry, controlling, according to the latest data available, 76 percent of the total volume of goods transported by railway in Romania.