Romania’s Alro Slatina Employees Protest Against Management Board Plans

Former miners’ leader Miron Cozma was also present at the protest.

People placed a coffin on a Dacia Logan car, with the message: "2002 – 2008" Machithi" on it.

The protesters were shouting: “Down With The Russian Mob”, carrying placards with the writing: “Do not kill Slatina!”, “Destroy the rodents in the Netherlands!”, “Save Alro!”. A part of them carried black flags.

The protest is aimed at the proposal of the management board of the aluminum factory to sack 1,500 people.

“It will be a major protest, we are expecting people from Slatina to join the Arlo workers. We estimate 4,000 participants,” Constantin Popescu, leader of the Aluministul Union, said Monday.

“The protest aims to stop the slaughter in Slatina, as we called it. There are over 40,000 people who have direct or indirect ties with us, as they work in companies whose activities depend on Arlo, that are affected by what is happening to us,” Popescu said.

According to the cited source, a meeting of the management board of Arlo Slatina is scheduled for Tuesday.

"(…) the misters in the management board did not even bother to come to the country. They will hold the meeting over the phone. They won’t lower themselves to such a third world country,” Popescu said.

“The other shareholders told us there are nine items on the agenda. One of the items regards reducing the work capacity and sacking 1,500 people. The eighth item regards finding potential clients for selling the cheap energy we are taking from the state. (…) Popescu said.

Protests in Arlo Slatina will go on until representatives of the factory’s management board will sit at the table of negotiations.

Last week, 400 employees protested in front of the factory, after the leadership of the union announced them in a statement 1,800 employees will be sacked.

Romania’s Alro, the largest aluminum producer in Central and Eastern Europe, owned by Dutch-based Vimetco, announced Friday it is evaluating a 50% cut in production and sacking 1,200 of its operational staff in Slatina, in 2009.

The company’s restructuring plan comes after a sharp decrease in aluminum price, which has dropped by more than 50% since mid July 2008, Alro said.

Dutch-based Vimetco, Alro’s majority shareholder, has recommended at this week’s board meeting further cuts in aluminum production at Alro SA, as well as a further cut in headcount in Romania as part of an overall analysis of Vimetco’s global operations.

Vimetco owns 84.19% of Alro’s shares, while Romania’s investment fund Fondul Proprietatea owns a 9.93% stake in the company.