Mechel Targoviste, a Romanian-based subsidiary of the Russian mining and steel producing group Mechel, intends to implement a collective layoff scheme during the July-August period this year which would affect 249 workers.
According to Mechel Targoviste workers' union leader Mihai Toma, the reasons which have forced the company to take such measures are lack of demand, the refusal of customers to receive and pay for orders, and the losses incurred by the plant in recent months due to the economic crisis. According to local media reports, in the first three months of 2009 Mechel Targoviste registered losses of RON 31.06 million (approx. $10.36 million), whereas it recorded a profit in the same period last year.
Since the beginning of the current year, Mechel Targoviste has on several occasions sent its workers on technical leave, paying them 75 percent of their wages. At the end of the first quarter Mechel Targoviste had 3,128 employees.