IAR Cuts 303 Jobs, Constructii Aeronautice, 89O

Ovidiu Vrânceanu, Braşov

Shareholders in IAR and Constructii Aeronautice (Aeronautical Works) convened for General Meetings yesterday and approved the reorganization plans for the two companies. In a first phase, IAR - Ghimbav will cut 303 jobs by the end of July. Unfortunately, 16 of the employees in question are not eligible for the severance stipulated by Ordinance 95/2002, that is, the equivalent of 36 salaries.

According to union leader Suba Arpad, the 16 employees are not eligible to receive severance because they were hired after 2004 or because they received severance during a previous reorganization and were subsequently hired back. Notices to the 303 employees were scheduled for delivery this morning. IAR - Ghimbav will shed an additional 350 jobs next Spring unless a miraculous economic recovery is accomplished by that time.

Shareholders in Constructii Aeronautice - Ghimbav have decided to layoff 89 employees in the first phase of the reorganization. All of them are eligible for severance as per Ordinance 95/2002. The second phase of the reorganization will take place next Spring, when all the remaining 45 employees will be laid off, and the company will be closed. Phase two will apply unless the Government decides to save the company by giving it repair contracts for the aircraft of the Romanian Air Club.

"Five years ago, when IAR - Ghimbav was divided, the Government Decision issued on this topic stipulated that the debts taken over by ICA and Toptherm would be swapped for shares. Unfortunately, this has not been done and the result is that the two companies are going bankrupt. The only difference is that one of them lived longer than the other," Suba Arpad said.