Romanian Railways will fire 3.700 staff 

Romanian Railways (CFR) will sack 3.700 people. The state company intends to also cut salary benefits to save money that would otherwise pay for 4.000 employees. A previous gloomier forecast announced 12.000 dismissed staff.

Romanian Minister of Transports Radu Berceanu made this announcement after meeting the rail workers union representatives on Monday. Berceanu explained the persons to be fired are people that could otherwise retire. The sacked staff will not receive any compensation because they will choose retirement.

Put together, the savings Berceanu will raise by cutting the number of rail staff and benefits equals the current salaries for 4.000 staff. Romanian Minister of Transports went on to say there’s room for additional measures in order to balance the railway companies’ budgets. There are currently businesses which record 50 million lei in income and 300 million lei in expenditure.

The president of the Commercial Movement Federation Gheorghe Popa said the agreement reached on Monday was not satisfactory, but necessary considering the situation of the Romanian railways.