The urban transport service of the Murcian capital opens an uncertain period from this Monday. The expeditions of the different lines of the so-called ‘coloraos’ buses will not go out on the streets after the camp that the 98 workers of the concessionaire, the UTE Transportes de Murcia headed by Grupo Ruiz, began on Sunday night, so indefinite, next to the company garages, located in the Murcia Integrated Transport Center (Citmusa). The employees settled in the outer areas of the polygon, since the company did not allow them to lock themselves in the facilities, as they had originally planned.
“We have arrived and we have found the Civil Guard inside,” said the president of the Works Council, Miguel Cano, acknowledging that the company had already warned them that it would not let them occupy the premises and had warned them that this is ” an illegal strike”, which can have consequences in the form of dismissals, a circumstance that will not intimidate them. «They have been cornering us until they leave us no other alternative; Nobody can be caught by surprise and we will not leave here until the situation is resolved one way or another”, he added, noting that not only are they owed 4,500 euros per worker related to two payrolls, but from this month the “wild 42% salary reduction” imposed by the concessionaire will come into force.
Currently, the base salary of a driver is 1,530 euros per month, which will be reduced to 920 euros, plus the amount of the different bonuses, which will also be reduced to the same extent. “The mayor of Murcia, José Antonio Serrano, promised us that this situation would not be allowed and we want him to keep his word,” Cano added. However, the workers faced the start of this plant with optimism this Sunday, accompanied by family, friends and colleagues from other public transport service contractors in the municipality of Murcia. “Here we are setting up tents and we bring supplies: ham, potato omelette and even guitars… we don’t know how long this can take,” he stressed.
The staff took the opportunity to apologize in advance to the users, who will suffer the consequences of this plant, but they asked for understanding, since they have no other option, also counting that the start of a legal strike has already been requested for the past Holy Monday, which had to be suspended due to “100% abusive services”. This is not, therefore, the first mobilization carried out in recent months by the concessionaire’s staff, which on various occasions -beginning in early December- has caused shipments to leave late and has even interrupted the service , irregularly, by doing so without prior communication.
“Service at Loss”
Grupo Ruiz has pointed out on occasions prior to LA VERDAD that the proposal to drop the agreement that has already begun to be applied is motivated by the economic situation alleged by the concessionaire, which claims not only to have sustained huge uncompensated losses due to the pandemic, but also He denounces that he is providing the service “at a loss, contrary to what is established by law”, after an extension of the concession with which he did not agree. In fact, it assures this, that conditions from ten years ago have been maintained that do not respond to the current economic framework.
“And it has been done, against our criteria, when there has been a sharp increase in costs, such as fuel, in our case gas,” explained the head of the company, Alberto Egido, denouncing that ” After months of questions, we were informed of the decision to extend the concession five hours after its completion”, with a significant operating deficit, as the concessionaire claims to have verified.
For its part, from the Murcia City Council, it has been reiterated on several occasions that this is a problem between company and workers, at the same time that it has promised to do its bit, to alleviate the damages suffered by both parties. , but “always within the framework of the Public Sector Contracts Law and the specifications”. This offer led to the approval, a few weeks ago, of the entry of some 110,000 euros to reduce the losses caused by the anti-covid sanitary measures, an amount far removed from what was requested by the company and which it does not consider sufficient to stop the reduction. wage.
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