Another 160 people will be laid off from TPP "Contur Global Maritsa Iztok 3", informed Radio Stara Zagora the executive director of the company Vasil Shtonov.
"The measure is required for several reasons – the plant is not included in the production of electricity for the so-called “regulated market”, and the production of energy from lignite is not profitable on the free market. On the other hand, there is currently an oversupply of electricity and very little demand. In the so-called "futures" the selling price per megawatt hour for January is 90 euros. The cost of producing the same amount of energy from lignite is over 140 euros. Therefore, at the moment, it is more profitable for the company to buy energy than to produce it", explained Stonov.
The unions at headquarters, the Labor Bureau and the Labor Inspectorate were notified today about the upcoming mass redundancies.
Since November, last year in the TPP "Contour Global Maritsa East 3" there is no signed collective labor agreement. The previous one provided that in case of mass redundancies, employees would be paid between 3 and 5 wages. However, as a responsible company, the third East Mariška headquarters will keep unchanged the conditions under which the first approximately 160 employees were laid off.
"This means that each of the people affected by the reduction in staff will receive an average of 9 wages from headquarters. It is planned that the new 160 people will be released so that they can benefit from benefits through the Labor Bureau. In practice, this will mean that they will be able to receive about 7 more salaries," Stonov specified.
The new layoffs are part of a pre-developed plan by the company in case of a negative development of things, which we sincerely hoped to avoid, but unfortunately the situation is like this, stressed the executive director of TPP "Contour Global Maritsa Iztok".< /p>
About 35 employees will remain at the headquarters, and they will deal with the new projects – production of energy from the sun and batteries for its storage.
"The capacities in the thermal power plant "Kontur Global Maritsa East 3" will remain ready for work.
"In the event of a crisis, we will restore production and hire additional people," emphasized the plant's executive director.