STB has moved from planning to implementation: nearly 800 employees received redundancy notices on Wednesday, 11 November. For a company that entered insolvency in September, the move puts into effect the job cuts announced in May as part of its reorganisation. Financial pressure may explain the need for restructuring, but it does not remove the need to explain publicly how jobs are being selected for elimination.
HotNews reported that STB entered insolvency with debts above 1.5 billion lei and is now run by a consortium of judicial administrators. The operator is expected to have 8,428 employees after the cuts. That makes this more than a minor staffing adjustment at a core Bucharest public transport provider.
Remus Borza, representing the judicial administrator, told HotNews that 170 of STB's 4,300 drivers were among those dismissed and that most of the rest were auxiliary staff. He said the measure targets employees with disciplinary, integrity or conduct problems, while most employees who do their work properly would not be affected. Those are the administrator's claims, not a public account showing how every selection decision was assessed.
That distinction matters. A reorganisation plan may require job reductions, and a company carrying large debts may need difficult decisions. Yet Borza's description of the process as an “autumn cleaning”, later acknowledged by him as unfortunate wording, adds to the concern about the message surrounding it. In collective redundancies, rhetoric cannot substitute for clear criteria, appeal procedures and an account of how the public service will be maintained.
The available report does not set out the full job categories affected, the selection rules, legal routes for challenge, or responses from unions and employees. It also does not establish the effect on routes or service frequency. STB needs to provide those details before the exercise can credibly be assessed as accountable reform rather than a large personnel reduction accompanied by broad allegations.
Sources
- HotNews · Source date: 2026-11-11
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-11