Unions: 6380 employees of CFR Marfă will be laid off in March

Romania"s state-run freight rail company CFR Marfa plans to lay off nearly 6,400 staff out of a total of 16.220, as of March 2010, without compensatory payments, Iulian Măntescu, head of the Engine Drivers Federation said on Friday.

"Today (Friday ed. note) we have received the notification from CFR Marfă, according to which 6380 out of the 16,220 employees of the company will be laid off. They will not receive compensatory payments, because there are no laws regulating this kind of situation", said Măntescu.

Union leader said that, starting on Friday, they have 10 days on hand which to reply to this situation, following that, the management of the company would need to notify the Territorial Labor Inspectorate (ITM) and the Territorial Employment Agency.

Măntescu said that the ITM would have 30 days to take a stance on the layoffs, and it may decide to require their postponement. According to the legislation, employees have the right to a 15 days prior notice, which would allow them to look for jobs.

"We will fully reject the layoffs, because the company did not consult with the unions before making this decision. It seems that CFR Călători and Infrastructură did not submit their layoff schedules", said Iulian Măntescu.

He said he would not rule out protests, if the company refused to negotiate the collective labor contract for 2010.

In July, the freight rail operator put approximately 7,000 staff on rotating furlough due to a severe fall in demand. The workers were paid 75% of their monthly salary during furlough days. Călin Graţian, who was the general manager of CFR Marfă at the time, said that the furloughs would shave 25% off the wage bill, which, correlated with other cost-cutting steps, could allow a 30% cut of total expenses.