Workers Commissions (CCOO) has reorganized the strike in road passenger transport and has called off the strike scheduled for this Thursday, but maintains the rest of the announced calendarwhich includes next December 9 and the 23rd of the same month, from which it will become indefinite.
The union organization has assured this Wednesday in a statement that it is continuing with the mobilizations and only suspends the strike day this Thursday “which was set in another scenario“, and will add to the dates already communicated new actions that will be announced shortly, among which it contemplates new strike calls.
This announcement comes after last Tuesday The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) will call off its strike calendar –convened by the urban and interurban passenger transport sector – which coincided with that of CCOO, with the aim of demanding for drivers a early retirementsimilar to the one recently achieved by groups such as forest firefighters, without suffering economic cuts.
The union organization has explained that the strike in the road transport sector It was jointly convened by CCOO and UGTwith an agreed calendar and a joint strike committee, and with different activities involved (freight transport, self-propelled cranes, medical transport, passenger and urban transport).
Some of these activities reached an agreement to request the initiation of the reduction coefficients file (freight transport, self-propelled cranes and medical transport) and UGT distanced itself from the strike in passenger and urban transport.
CCOO sees it necessary to reorganize the mobilization “with a call that is more adjusted to reality, sustainable over time and viable for those who share the need for a real and effective agreement to request the advancement of the retirement age”because of the dangerous nature of his work.
According to the organization, the current situation “is summarized in breaches of the rest of the signatories of the freight transport agreementsince the request has not yet been made to the competent body.” The union has recalled that The commitment was signed on October 24 and the execution period was 20 days.
On the other hand, the agreement reached between Confebus and UGT in passenger and urban transport does not guarantee the submission of the request for reducing coefficients.
The “demand and immobility” of the Confebus employers’ association to make the request with a new regulation is difficult to understand, since the non-acceptance of a deadline is not understood to carry it out with the regulations that existed at that time, he clarified.
According to CCOO, passenger and urban transport is subject to the economic interests of the companies Alsa and Avanzawhich are those that directly control the Confebus employer association and indirectly the Atuc urban and metropolitan public transport association. The latter, despite representing the public transport companies of the main Spanish cities, puts the dictates of Confebus first.
Initially, the unions called strikes for the increase in accidents among already experienced driverswith them, they demanded that the employers demand that the Government inclusion in the group of professions that can anticipate their retirement without affecting their pension.
Reasons for blocking the negotiation
The blockage of the negotiation lies, on the one hand, in the Confebus’ confidence that the new regulations contemplate greater demands that make access to the coefficients impossible for bus drivers and, on the other, in the interest of the large public transport concessionaires so that the additional cost involved the application of reducing coefficients is not paid for by them and they are compensated by the Administration.
In this way, “their huge profits will increase with all the cost savings resulting from the lower remuneration of people who enter the sector, by not having to make remuneration concepts effective based on seniority of working people in companies, who, at a minimum, They represent 60% of the salary”he detailed.
Costs will also be saved for a lower incidence of temporary disabilities in elderly peopleCCOO added.
CCOO has appealed to the city councils of the large cities of Spain and the Ministry of Transport “so that they protect the process and do not leave the resolution of the conflictas until now, in the hands of Alsa and Avanza”.
The concessionaires continue to charge the same for the concession, even if its workers are on strike and do not provide the servicethe organization has stated.
CGT: “This is not a surrender”
For its part, CGT has indicated that, given the poor follow-up of the strike and the enormous effort that has fallen on its membership has made the decision to call off the planned strikes, but has stressed that “This is not a surrender, but a strategic step back.”
“The union has said that “it needs to rearm itself and work to unify the sector again with a single voice.”after other unions decided to accept “the rules of the dirty game proposed by the Government and Social Security and enter hand in hand with our executioners and exploiters to request the reducing coefficients”.
#CCOO #calls #bus #drivers #strike #Thursday
