Since 2007 management of “La casa nouă” JSC in the city of Kishinev has impeded the activity of the local union at “La casa nouă”, affiliated to the trade union of Commerce, Catering, Restaurant, Hotel, Service and Consumer Cooperatives Workers’ Union (SindLUCAS). In September 2007 the local union’s documents were snatched from its office. In July the union Chair Vasiliy Pozhoga, whose position of lawyer at the company was made redundant, was transferred to a position of seller-consultant with a salary that was three times lower than for those newly recruited into the same position. Mr. Pozhoga also faced numerous acts of discrimination and intimidation. In 2009 transfers of trade union dues were suspended by the company.
On 30 April 2010 Vasiliy Pozhoga was dismissed for absence from the workplace. On 16 December 2010 he was reinstated by the Botanika sector court of the municipality of Kishinev, but the decision was appealed by the employer and was not executed. Another member of the union, Gangan Maria, was dismissed 30 March 2010 without the approval of a higher-level trade union as required by Moldavian law. In August 2010 she was reinstated, with the decision coming into force in December 2010. However, she had not been reinstated by the end of the year.