Tallinn has laid off 230 positions under Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski
During Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski's term, 230 people have been laid off. According to him, the city has saved six million euros as a result.
Since last spring, the city government has aimed to improve efficiency across the municipal system, Tallinn Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) told ERR. "As a result, there are now 230 fewer positions in the city system and the resulting savings amount to six million euros. This is certainly a significant sum, which we have been able to redirect toward services needed by residents — whether in education, social welfare or other areas," Ossinovski said.
Among the most notable recent layoffs are Nõmme Sports Center's longtime driving force Toomas Klasen and experienced head of external relations Heili Luik. The sports sector reorganization affected 20 positions, with a net reduction of seven jobs.
"The most recent changes form a whole package, each with its own substantive reasoning and prepared by the heads of agencies and departments. One of them is connected to the launch of the new Tallinn Sports Center at the beginning of this year. Its director, Tarvi Pürn, has developed a new structure over the past six months, which also involved reviewing various positions. Since all sports facilities are now under unified management, the changes that align with the new director's vision are the ones the city government has accepted," Ossinovski explained.
"As for the Strategy Center, there was no reduction in the number of positions. However, the job descriptions of several roles were revised. This meant some positions were eliminated and replaced with others requiring a different profile. This mainly concerned the business services department, where we want Tallinn to move away from providing direct subsidies to companies. In reality, Tallinn's market conditions do not justify municipal business subsidies," Ossinovski said.
According to him, the new direction emphasizes greater support for innovation, strengthening Tallinn's reputation as a business environment and creating better opportunities for networking and building connections that could improve the city's business climate as a whole.
"And in this process, not all employees who held previous roles have taken on the new ones. Many were offered the chance to continue in a new role but chose to leave, and in some cases, we deliberately sought people with different skills and profiles," the mayor noted.
Ossinovski added that no further layoffs are planned within Tallinn's municipal system.
Estonia will head into local elections two weeks from now, with the opposition Center Party having secured a comfortable lead in the polls in Tallinn.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Marcus Turovski
