Government gives green light to meal vouchers for CE Oltenia employees
The decision adopted in the Government meeting on Tuesday allows the maintenance of the rights provided for in the Collective Labor Agreement, including the granting of meal vouchers for all personnel during the year 2026, with application including for the month of January.
The Memorandum was presented in first reading in the Government meeting on Thursday, February 19, by the Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, who explained that, in the coldest days of this winter, the company’s production in Oltenia was decisive for the safe operation of the energy system.
„From my point of view, it is a necessary and natural step, in the context in which, in the coldest days of this winter, we relied on the production of CE Oltenia to support the National Energy System”, the minister said. He specified that the meal vouchers will be granted to all CEO personnel and that, immediately after the approval of the Memorandum, the related amounts will be loaded onto the employees’ cards.
„By exempting the Oltenia Energy Complex SA Company from the application of the provisions of art. XL and art. XLI of Law 296/2023, the company’s activity will not be disrupted, removing the risk of possible labor disputes to claim the rights provided for in the Collective Labor Agreement and in individual labor contracts”, the Executive announced.
The Government’s decision comes in the context in which art. XL and art. XLI of Law no. 296/2023 on some measures to ensure Romania’s long-term financial sustainability impose restrictions on personnel expenses at public institutions and state-owned companies, including limitations on the granting of certain salary benefits. In the absence of an exemption, these provisions could have affected the granting of meal vouchers.
During the discussions of trade unionists with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, representatives of the Oltenia Energy Complex presented a set of efficiency, optimization and reorganization measures to be applied in 2026, in order to recover the company.
According to the Executive’s information, „the total savings in 2026 at the company level, following the application of efficiency, reorganization and layoff measures, will be approximately 440 million lei.”