Romanian employees urge Govt. to extend derogations to Russia-controlled pipe maker Artrom

The Cartel Alfa trade union federation is asking the Romanian Government to prolong the derogations regarding the activity of Artrom, part of the Russian group TMK, whose accounts were blocked two months ago and then unlocked only for the payment of salaries.

In March, the Romanian tax authority ANAF decided to block the company's accounts, claiming that the oligarch Dmitry Pumpiansky, who owned the company, is on the list of those internationally sanctioned. Pumpiansky resigned from the company, but nevertheless, TMK was first subjected to a blockage exercised by the Romanian banks at the request of their foreign owners, and ANAF also recently blocked the company's accounts.

Some 2,600 jobs are at risk, the trade union federation argues.

"TMK-Artrom, one of the best-performing companies in the Romanian industry, which provides jobs for 2,600 employees and pays its taxes to the state on time, is in imminent danger of ceasing its activity, with all the disastrous consequences, economic and social," a federation's statement reads. The damages suffered as a result of this cessation of activity are impossible to determine at this moment, but they will certainly be immense," Cartel Alfa claims in a letter addressed to the Government and finance minister Adrian Câciu, Adevarul reported.

(Photo source: Facebook/TMK Artrom)