Employment, Estonia, Markets and Companies, Port, Transport

Tallink Grupp on Wednesday informed the Unemployment Insurance Fund, Estonian Seamen’s Independent Union and staff of the vessels operating under the Estonian flag of having initiated the process of collective redundancy, the shipper said. The layoffs predominantly concern the ships' service personnel, of whom up to 190 will be made redundant.

"We have managed to prevent layoffs of maritime workers with the help of various measures and in the hope that we'll be able to restore our operations faster than we have been able to. Partial travel restrictions remain in force in many states, which will continue to affect our economic results at least until next summer," CEO of Tallink Grupp Paavo Nogene said.

"Sadly, our activities will not bounce back to the same volumes as before the crisis within the next few months, which means that we will not be able to provide all our current employees with the same amount of work as before," Nogene said.

"In order to prevent more redundancies among our Estonian staff, we will propose that the workload and remuneration of a number of our colleagues employed under a seafarer's contract of employment be reduced 20 percent. When market demand recovers, we'll be able to increase said workload and remuneration. The agreements will be offered for the period from fall through spring," he added.

Nogene noted that Tallink has been able to keep the number of redundancies lower in Estonia compared with other states due to the government's decision whereby the tax system for maritime workers is partially harmonized with states in close proximity to Estonia.

Tallink has also begun layoffs of maritime workers in Latvia and Sweden where altogether up to 800 employees will be let go. In the said two states, the collective redundancies also mainly concern service personnel on ships. In Finland, most Tallink employees are on leave without pay.