Only 35 people remain at work at the TPP "Contour Global Maritsa East 3"

Another 160 people will be released from the Contour Global Maritsa East 3 TPP, the company's executive director Vasil Shtonov told Radio Stara Zagora. "The measure is necessary for several reasons - the plant is not included in the production of electricity for the so-called "regulated market", and the free production of energy from lignite is not profitable. On the other hand, there is currently an oversupply of electricity and very little demand in the so-called "futures", the selling price for January is 90 euros. The cost of producing the same amount of energy from lignite is more than 140 euros ", Shtonov explained.

Unions at headquarters, the Labor Bureau and the Labor Inspectorate were notified today of the upcoming mass redundancies.

Since November last year, there has been no signed collective labor agreement at the "Contour Global Maritsa East 3" TPP. The previous one stipulated that in case of mass redundancies, employees would be paid between 3 and 5 wages. However, as a responsible company, the third East Mariška plant will keep unchanged the conditions under which the first approximately 160 employees were laid off.

"This means that each of the people affected by the reduction of staff will receive an average of 9 wages from the headquarters. It is planned that the new 160 people will be released so that they can take advantage of benefits through the Bureau of Labor In practice, this will mean that they will be able to receive about 7 more salaries," explained Shtonov.

The new layoffs are part of a pre-developed plan by the company in case of a negative development of things, which we sincerely hoped to avoid, but unfortunately the situation is like this, stressed the executive director of TPP "Contour Global Maritsa East".

About 35 employees will remain at the plant, and they will deal with the new projects - production of energy from the sun and batteries for its storage.

"The power at the Contour Global Maritsa East 3 TPP will remain ready for work. "In the event of a crisis, we will restore production and hire additional people," emphasized the plant's executive director.