Around 2,000 employees of Romanian railways company CFR, who were working at the locomotive service units went on a sudden strike on Wednesday morning (April 17 ), complaining that they had not received their salaries. The locomotive service center is headquartered in Brasov, but employees of this division across the entire country have stopped working.

Workers have been told the money should have been paid into their bank accounts this morning, so they stopped working, but stayed at work. “If they leave the working area, none of the locomotives which should go on track today will come out, because they are the ones to give the green light for locomotives,” said union leader Maxim Rodrigo.

Employees had previously been told they would receive the money on Monday; then a one-day delay was announced, and eventually on Wednesday news came that the company had wired the money, but the banks had frozen their accounts.

This happens just one day after the private manager of CFR, Dimitris Sophocleous resigned after the company's board rejected the revised management plan the leadership team had drafted. He cites political reasons for the rejection, as finances had improved. Sophocleous was one of the first private managers appointed at the helm of state – owned companies, as the country had agreed with its financier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

editor@romania-insider.com