{"id":167493,"date":"2025-01-16T18:46:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T08:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=59089"},"modified":"2025-01-16T18:46:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T08:46:57","slug":"no-wages-for-moldovan-railways-workers-after-freight-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=167493","title":{"rendered":"No wages for Moldovan Railways\u2019 workers after freight losses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moldovan Railways (CFM) is in trouble, and so are its employees. The company has refused to pay out wages for approximately half a year already, and high-level politicians have not stepped up to remedy the situation. Employees are quitting \u201cin despair\u201d.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>CFM profited from Ukraine\u2019s grain export diversion via rail, as the sea route from the port city of Odesa was deemed unsafe during months of Russian attacks. However, Ukraine\u2019s successful defense of its port and the sea export routes removed the need for grain transportation overland.<\/p>\n

Now, Moldovan Railways is no longer benefiting from the boost in traffic and money has dried up. Earlier, the company cut employees\u2019 work weeks short to save on expenditures, but it now turns out that workers have not received any wages since July 2024 either. Nearly a thousand have quit their jobs \u201cin despair\u201d, write Moldovan media, and the remaining employees plan to take to the streets in February.<\/p>\n

Going bankrupt<\/h2>\n

In order to resolve the wage issue, a trade union appealed to high-level politicians, including even president Maia Sandu. “We still hope that the country’s leadership will look at the railway employees and allocate some money from the state budget in 2025. It’s nothing, we haven’t seen any money allocated and we’ll see if the state doesn’t help us somehow, we’re simply going bankrupt,” says a union representative.<\/p>\n

The operator needs approximately 8,27 million euros to pay out the wages. The company thinks it can raise more than that with the sale of locomotives and other assets, but a parliamentarian also floated the idea of extending favourable loans to CFM.<\/p>\n