Energy unions accuse irregularities on the Mintia Thermal Power Plant platform

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu should send the Control Body to several decentralized public institutions in Hunedoara county, which would ignore numerous irregularities that occur on the platform of the Mintia thermal power plant, bought last year, following an auction, by a company based in Bucharest and member of a group of companies based in Jordan, it is stated in an open letter sent yesterday to the head of the Government by the Federation of Independent Free Trade Unions Energetica. The union leaders claim that there are many jobs taking place at Mintia such as illegal work, including with citizens brought from other states, risky operations with hazardous materials such as mercury, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, toluene and even the sale of goods from plant platform, such as utilities, rail or waste oil which the unions claimed could not be disposed of under the contract before commissioning of the new plant assumed to be carried out by the buyer on the old plant platform.

In the open letter, the union leaders state: "After the award of the tender, SC Mass Global Energy Rom SRL, in order to fulfill the obligations imposed by the Romanian State, had to realize the investment it assumed, so the first measure taken was that of introducing people who did not have the necessary knowledge to be able to make the decisions that required the decommissioning of the installations that existed within the Thermal Power Plant, into the premises of the objective. Thus, during the period September 2022 - September 2023, SC Mass Global Energy Rom SRL used people for work without having previously concluded employment contracts with them. In this sense, we specify that, after the payment in August 2022 of the amount of 10 million euros representing the advance for the purchase of the Mintia Thermal Power Plant, starting from September the company used Iraqi and Romanian citizens for a long period of time, respectively until September 2023 Also, following the same already established practice of using people for work without drawing up individual employment contracts, in the period March-September 2023, SC Mass Global Energy Rom SRL benefited from the work of people of Iraqi nationality who worked within the Mintia Thermal Power Plant without legal forms of work or work visa, delegation or legal contracts. Taking into account the importance of the objective, as well as the fact that potentially dangerous material and installations were found within the premises of the thermal power plant, the Federation of Free Independent Energy Trade Unions notified the Bucharest Labor Inspectorate, which carried out an inspection on 05.09.2023, a circumstance in which they persons at work without legal forms of work were identified. At the same time, companies without any employees worked in the unit every day and provided activities in the premises of the thermal power plant even though they did not have an individual employment contract. It is possible that there is an interest of the control bodies within the Hunedoara Territorial Labor Inspectorate in protecting SC Mass Global Energy Rom SRL considering that although a control was carried out on 19.04.2023, in which the management and 5 inspectors of ITM Hunedoara, when irregularities were found, clear measures were not established, nor was this control noted in the internal national register of ITM".

In the opinion of the employees' representatives, the Prime Minister's Control Body should check the Territorial Labor Inspectorate (ITM) Hunedoara, the Hunedoara Environmental Guard, the Hunedoara Environmental Protection Agency and the Romanian Water Administration - the Mureş Water Basin Administration.

The union leaders also claim that the company that won the tender began to demolish the buildings and workshops of the Mintia thermal power plant "without having a demolition permit at that time, a demolition procedure that is still ongoing and currently without an extended demolition permit." and a check made by the Hunedoara Environmental Protection Agency following some reports published online was completed "without taking legal measures although at that time the demolition of the buildings was in progress without the issued demolition authorization and the rubble was improperly stored".

"All this leads to one conclusion, that the authorities understood to "close their eyes" and ignore the risks and at the same time the legal provisions and the attributions that belonged to them", the open letter addressed to the head of the Government also states.

The document mentions that chemicals including 3 kilograms of mercury, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, toluene are stored together, without protection, and currently, the electrolysis station where hydrogen was produced and where there is KOH 28 electrolyte is being demolished % prepared and solid, very dangerous and toxic substance, without taking appropriate measures.

Trade unionists also claim the Mureş Water Basin Administration established the measures that had to be respected by the company that owns the administration of the Mintia Thermal Power Plant regarding the exploitation of the intake dam, but the representatives of the respective company asked the authorized provider to exploit the dam and open its floodgates, which was refused by the provider because the fact that if these instructions had been followed, would have caused significant flow variations on the Mureş River with consequences for the environment, upstream and downstream users as well as the population.

Last but not least, the trade unionists claim that they have information according to which more than 40 tons of oils were sold from the platform of the thermal power plant in Mintia, the related tanks, more than 5 kilometers m of railway and other installations were sold, although, through contract, the company was not allowed to dispose of assets from the power plant until the new plant was put into operation.

We remind you that the Ministry of Energy, as a shareholder, imposed certain conditions on the investor with the aim of relaunching energy production in Mintia. Thus, the buyer, Mass Global Energy Rom, has the obligation until December 31, 2026 to complete the investment to create a new energy capacity with an installed power of at least 1,290 MW, of which at least 800 MW in the gas and renewable energy band.