Over 1,000 employees at Mangalia Shipyard enter furlough as Damen files for bankruptcy

More than 1,000 of the 1,500 employees of the Mangalia Naval Shipyard have entered technical unemployment by the end of this year, Rador Press Agency announces, quoting Radio Constanta.   The “Navalistul” Free Trade Union and the management of the construction site have agreed to extend the Collective Labor Agreement until March next year and to resume collective bargaining in January. The first contracts could also appear from next year, says union leader Laurentiu Gobeaj?.   “Starting next year at the earliest, there is a good chance that major projects will be signed that will ensure a working fund for several years, but until then only a small number of employees will continue their activity, and a significant number will be, for a long period, in technical unemployment”, says Laurentiu Gobeaja.   The salaries for the month of June of the employees at the Damen Mangalia Shipyard are budgeted, and technical unemployment for them is ensured for at least 4 months. The Directorate of the Construction Site announced, at the end of May, that the entry into technical unemployment is inevitable.   “In March we informed you that we were facing a difficult period and that we would need to adopt cost-cutting measures to overcome it (…) Today, we are in a critical situation. The construction site is empty and major projects are delayed. Although we have made significant progress in negotiating some major potential projects, these, even if successfully concluded, will not begin until 2025 (…) We have reached a point where a further postponement of the introduction of the technical unemployment measure is no longer possible. This is a difficult decision, but necessary to give our site the best chance of overcoming this critical period and being able to resume our activity in the future. The measure of technical unemployment will be implemented starting on June 3, 2024″, explained the management of the construction site last month.   Meanwhile, Damen Holland requested the judges at the Constanta Court to declare bankruptcy of the Mangalia Shipyard, in which it owns 49% of the shares. The reason would be the existence of unpaid debts, which would amount to approximately 160 million euros.