Romania’s CFR Marfa “Recommends” Payless Four-Day Leaves To Staff

A written statement signed Friday by the general manager of CFR Marfa, Calin Gratian, and the managers of the eight branches in the company, states a series of measures meant to cut spending.

According to the document, the unions do not agree with a reduction in the working hours, but they would accept spending cuts through organizational measures. one of these measures refers to the high number of payless vacation requests made by company employees.

"To solve the high number of payless vacation requests submitted by TESA staff and other categories of personnel, branch managers and subunit chiefs are mandated to approve these requests so that, if there are more than four days of payless leave per employee, this would not disturb normal activity," the statement reads.

Sources within CFR Marfa said, however, that station chiefs were verbally asked by superiors, to formulate, alongside employees not working shifts, requests for four-day payless vacations every month.

"You all take four days off without pay every month and you tell them (the employees) to do the same," the chiefs were told by Teodor Rosca, head of the CFR Marfa Bucharest Regional Department, according to the quoted sources.

Asked what would happen if TESA employees would refuse to comply, Rosca said, according to the same sources: "You put them on a list and you send them to me."

Contacted by MEDIAFAX, CFR Marfa general manager Calin Gratian said the company is facing a high number of payless vacation requests.

"Some of the TESA employees do nothing all day,” Gratian said.

asked why, in these conditions, the employees would want to take four days off without pay every month and make 20% less money, when they could waste time at work with full pay, Gratian avoided offering a direct reply.

"It does not seem normal to me for active staff, and not TESA, to be affected in these conditions. It is one of my recommendations that TESA staff take four days off without pay every month," Gratian said, adding "those most bothered by this recommendation are the managers."

He went on saying that out of the 17,500 employees of CFR Marfa, 13% are TESA staff, and more than half of them are in management positions.

Asked what would happen if staff refused to consider his “recommendation”, Gratian again avoided offering a direct reply.

"Anyway, after July 1 we will change the organigram and chisel off as much as we can. There are service chiefs with three subordinates and there are also chiefs with just themselves as subordinates. We will combine positions so that, without layoffs, the number of bosses will be cut in half ," Gratian said.