Automobile Dacia will halt production in Romania as of Thursday, March 19 until April 5, as an action to protect the health of its employees, trade union leader Ion Iordache told HotNews.ro.
Early this week, Renault Group announced it will stop production across all its European plants.
Therefore, employees will start technical unemployment and will receive 85% of their salary under the provisions of the collective union agreement.
Automobile Dacia trade union leader says there have been no cases of coronavirus in the factory and there are no problems with the suppliers, but the action is designed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus among workers.
Ford Craiova and Pirelli Slatina take similar actions
Digi 24 reported that those 6,000 employees of Ford Craiova are also starting the technical unemployment, according to an internal message of the company.
Technical unemployment starts tomorrow, March 19 and lasts until April 5. Employees will get about 78% of the salary during this time.
Pirelli, the Italian group that has produced tires in Slatina, Olt county has also announced the temporary suspension of its activity in Romania, with 4,000 employees to start technical unemployment.
„Pirelli Slatina announces the suspension of the factory activity during March 23-31 amid concerns related to COVID-19 spread, but also due to the slowdown of the demands on the automotive market”, reads a Pirelli’s press release.
PM Orban: The state will pay
PM Ludovic Orban has announced at the beginning of the government sitting today that several measures will be adopted to endorse the local economy and the companies affected by the Coronavirus crisis. The PM said the package of measures also includes the decision to cover the technical unemployment payments for the employees in the companies that suspended their activity during the emergency state period. Another measure is to inject money into economy.
FinMin: We’re expecting for 1 million employees in technical unemployment, peak of crisis expected in April
The Government has made some calculation and it’s expecting 500,000 up to 1 million employees to start technical unemployment in Romania due to the Coronavirus crisis, said Finance Minister Florin Citu. Part of the technical unemployment will be supported with money from the state budget.
FinMin also said he expected this crisis to reach its peak in April, and that things will slowly improve by July.
The Government is convening in a sitting today to announce a series of measures to help companies in need, with aids mounting to around 2 pc of the GDP, as Minister Citu told Digi24 on Tuesday night.