Moldovan Railways (CFM) is reducing the work week for its employees to four days. The reason is a lack of resources to pay its staff. A decline in freight traffic following Ukraine’s defense successes seems to be the primary culprit behind the financial problems.
Moldovan Railways profited from an overland Ukrainian grain export diversion, as the sea route from port city Odesa was deemed unsafe during months of Russian attacks. However, Ukraine’s successful defense of its port and sea export routes diminished the need for grain transportation overland. Now, CFM is no longer benefiting from the boost in traffic and is cutting work weeks short as a result.
“In the context of reduced transport and insufficient resources to pay salaries and cover operating expenses, we have no other solution than to reduce working days”, CFM’s acting director stated, according to a Russian rail publication. The company has failed to pay out multiple months of wages, and its wage debt has grown to nearly eight million euros. Over 5,000 employees are still expecting wage payments from previous months.