MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s state-owned railway monopoly Russian Railways plans to reduce management jobs as the company faces lower freight volumes and a broader slowdown in the Russian economy, Interfax news agency reported on Friday, citing the company.
Russia’s industrial giants — from railways and automakers to metals, coal, and cement producers — are struggling with weakening domestic demand, cheap Chinese imports, high interest rates and shrinking export markets.
Russian Railways, which employs about 700,000 people, had already asked central office staff to take three unpaid days off per month, sources told Reuters, and other Russian companies, including carmaker Avtovaz, cement maker Cemros and mining companies had reduced working hours and fired staff.
The company said “the optimisation of its management structure” was aimed at improving efficiency in the context of declining volume of work and a difficult economic situation, Interfax reported.
Russian Railways did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.
According to Interfax, it also said a hiring freeze and eliminating existing vacancies will be used first.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
