State saves 187m euros by making 8,000 CFR employees redundant

The Transport Ministry (MTI) plans to lay off between 7,100 and 8,300 employees of state-owned railway companies, which, together with other expense cutting steps will generate savings of 788m RON (187m euros) in 2011 compared with this year.
According to the railway company restructuring strategy, the volume of redundancies will depend on employees' willingness to give up some of their rights.
A number of 2,075 employees will be made redundant at CFR Călători. As a result, the company's expenses will shrink by 7m euros this year and by 15.5m euros in 2011. The company in the first half sold 29.8 million tickets, down 12.8% from a year ago.
CFR Marfă will see between 3,400 and 4,600 employees leave. This step and others will cut the company's expenditures by 300m RON (71m euros) in 2011.
MTI has finalised the privatisation strategy for CFR Marfă and in 2011 will auction its entire stake.
The lowest headcount reduction will be operated in the case of CFR SA, with 1,630 people set to leave. The company will see its expenses go down by 105.4m RON (25m euros) this year and by 288m RON (68m euros) next year.