Teleradio-Moldova Former Employees Are Revolting Against the Way Company’s Management Fired Them

In spring 2018, ‘Teleradio-Moldova’ (TRM) management fired 199 employees and subsequently re-hired 157. Some of the 42 fired employees have revolted against the decisions of the TRM management and requested the Council of Observers (CO) to review the way the fires took place. On 27 April, the CO decided, with a unanimous vote, that the TRM management had to establish an Employee Evaluation Committee that would give priority to assessing the fired and re-hired employees. TRM’s management claims to have complied with all legal proceedings in this case and threatens the CO with a lawsuit if it fails to annul its decision.

Contacted by Media-azi.md, the CO Chairperson, Nicolae Spataru, said that it would have been better if such fires were firstly reviewed by an evaluation committee. At the same time, he believes that TRM management acted in accordance with the law: ‘The fact that actions took place within the legal framework matters a lot for us’, Nicolae Spataru said.
Asked if TRM management submitted a prior request to the CO, the Chairperson of the Council said that all issues in this regard would be discussed during the next meeting.

The CO member, Ludmila Vasilache, also confirmed that CO received a letter from TRM management – ‘a kind of prior request’ – stating company’s management position on Council’s decision of 27 April on the need to establish an Evaluation Committee. TRM management disagrees with and considers this decision as illegal, on the grounds that the CO would not have the right to interfere with its firing and hiring matters.
Ludmila Vasilache argues that the CO’s objections in this case build on TRM’s failure to announce clear criteria for employee re-hiring.
CO’s decision of 27 April has also requested that such an Evaluation Committee be established in ten days, but, eventually, nothing happened, Vasilache added.

Previously, during the meeting held on 27 April, Bordeianu stated that all re-hiring procedures complied with the Labour Code. According to meeting’s minutes, ‘The re-hiring took place on the basis of solicitations received from Radio and TV chairpersons and from the President of the Joint Services’, Bordeianu said.
TRM Chairperson, Olga Bordeianu, did not answer to our phone calls.
The Council of Observers is to meet on Friday, 8 June, to discuss this issue.