Ina in the midst of negotiations between the Government and MOL lays off 181 workers

The redundancy program at Ina includes 180 employees, mostly administrative staff, and the company has provided them with severance pay amounting to 75 percent of gross salary per year of service, with more than 43 million kuna reserved for severance payments, Ina responded today to inquiries about the worker redundancy program.

Riječki Novi list reported today that Ina, in the midst of negotiations between the Government and MOL, is laying off 181 workers, that the redundancy program is being implemented contrary to the opinion of the Workers’ Council, and that the commissioner of the Rijeka branch of the EKN union at Ina, Ivica Perinić, has addressed a letter to the Minister of Economy Ivan Vrdoljak, who recently stated that he would insist that restructuring not be carried out and that layoffs not be made while negotiations between the Government and MOL are ongoing.

Ina responds that the redundancy program is in no way related to the negotiations, nor does it form part of the negotiations since this program was previously initiated and approved.

“Following the company’s business decision, the rationalization of the workforce is based on organizational and technological changes, so that the company can continue to be a stable employer in the upcoming period and maintain a strong position in the Croatian economy in the long term. The management of Ina initiated a detailed business analysis in February 2013 and approved the proposed measures to improve efficiency in July. The redundancy program includes 180 employees,” Ina states.

They emphasize that the company has ensured severance pay amounting to 75 percent of gross salary per year of service, while the minimum salary level used for calculating severance pay would be 6,400 kuna, so both amounts are on average higher than those agreed upon in the Collective Agreement and the Labor Law.

“More than 43 million kuna has been reserved for severance payments, which on average amount to around 350,000 kuna, in accordance with the agreement reached between the management and the union. The majority of employees included in the program are administrative staff,” Ina responds.

The commissioner of the Rijeka branch of the EKN union at Ina, Ivica Perinić, announced at the end of August on the union’s website that the decision of the management of Ina from July 18 formally confirmed the redundancy of around 180 workers, that the arguments and opposition of the Workers’ Council of Ina were not taken into account, and that the decision was signed only by Hungarian members of the management, with no signatures from any of the Croatian members of the management.

Perinić also stated at that time that the employer and the unions are on the right track for the amount of severance pay for workers included in the redundancy program to be higher than that agreed upon in the collective agreement, but that the EKN union still maintains the position that there is no surplus of workers. For the EKN union, as he states, the only acceptable way to resolve any potential surplus of workers in Ina and the Ina group is through a gradual, voluntary, and incentivized departure of workers. Without coercion and redundancy programs.

“In Ina, labor costs are far below 10 percent of total costs, and therefore managers – if they know how – can reduce costs in many other ways, starting with their own salaries and bonuses,” concludes Perinić.