The unionists of "Tarom" don't want a foreign manager

The National Technical Union (SNT) "Tarom" is against the implementation of a private management at the national airline, but they think that the future CEO should be Romanian, rather than a foreigner. "Between 2000 and 2005, < Tarom > had very good results, under a Romanian manager. We are asking why we should bring in a foreigner to serve as CEO, when foreigners didn't necessarily see the best results in the management of Romanian companies", said Aurel Curdov, the secretary general of SNT "Tarom".

The Union of the airline proposed a series of names for the top positions, but they were not included in the shortlist for the position of CEO, but only some of them made it on the position for the members of the Board of Directors, he said.

SNT "Tarom" does not agree to the strategy for the privatization of the airline, saying it is undervalued. "The valuation of 400 million Euros for < Tarom > is too small, as the company has a fleet of 23 aircraft, each valued at 15-20 million Euros, a plot of land of 23.000 square meters on the Henri Coandă International Airport, as well as substantial cash reserves which would allow it to operate for several years from now on", Aurel Curdov explained.

The union is complaining that, even though the strategy for privatization last year received a negative opinion from the tripartite Social Dialog Commission from the Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure (MTI), the Government decided to go ahead with it.

Aurel Curdov considers that "Tarom" is currently the target of many attacks, even though the company has no debts towards the state, unlike many of its competitors, and the loss it posted last year is far lower compared to that of other airline carriers.

As for the effectiveness of the ticket offices of "Tarom", he said that the price of the tickets issued by the company is higher than that of tickets issued by tourism agencies, due to a higher issuance fee, which he said he is wondering himself why it hasn't been eliminated. Even though he considers that online reservations are a very good distribution channel, the secretary of the union considers that, with the agencies having the best location, they represent an edge that "Tarom" has and they should be kept operational.

Another edge which the company has comes from the takeoff and landing timeslots which it has on major international airports, Aurel Curdov explained.

During the festivities for the celebration of the 58th anniversary of the company, which were held on Tuesday and Wednesday, the representatives of the National Technical Union of "Tarom", wore tricolor bands on their arms, to show their opposition to the privatization of the company.