CFR Marfa to lay off half of its staff - 9,000 people

The largest number of employees laid off by the CFR national railway company will be fired from the CFR Marfa company, with nearly half of the latter's employees, some 9,000 people, most likely to leave in the coming six months.

CFR Marfa, which is preparing for its privatization next year, must balance its revenue and expense budget, considering that such a budget does not exist for 2009, as the recently appointed General Manager of CFR Marfa, Mihai Frasinoi, told Business Standard.

"We will have to restructure our staff. At present, there are 17,400 employees, and we must cut about 50 percent, to have some 8,500 employees in 2010, in order to be able to develop a balanced budget. We no longer have time for this in 2009,"Frasinoi said.

The official added that the company must honor its ongoing commercial contracts and apply the personnel restructuring program. Frasinoi said that foregoing 50 percent of the CFR Marfa staff, from all fields of activity, will raise the company's efficiency, which will continue to operate "without problems." Trade union leader Voicu Sala, Vice President of the Federation of Locomotive Mechanics, declared "off the record," that talks at CFR Marfa involve over 8,000 employees that are to be laid off. Provided the national collective employment contract is complied with, an employee could receive at least RON 6,000 (some €1,418) in severance pay, based on an average net wage of RON 1,000 (about €236).

Sala told Business Standard that CFR Marfa representatives will meet Transport Minister Radu Berceanu at the end of this week, to discuss the staff downsizing program. Moreover, the talks referring to layoffs at the other two CFR companies, CFR Calatori and CFR Infra, will be finalized this week. "At Calatori, the is talk about laying off 2,300-2,500 employees, and at Infra, some 2,000 people," Sala added. According to him, trade unions will demand not only severance packages, but also professional reconversion programs for those under the age of 45. The layoffs to take place at CFR Marfa will cut the company's costs, considering that it has been accumulating debts and registering losses since 2008, due to the economic crisis, Frasinoi said. To eliminate these debts, the official said that human resource-related expenses must be the first to be reduced, which will obviously lead to a cut in wage funds.

standard.money.ro