More than 90,000 bus drivers and other passenger transport vehicles with more than nine seats They are called this Monday to a strike which leaves long lines at the stops from early in the morning. The strike, called by the majority unions CC OO and UGT, affects interurban, urban or school transport, in addition to cranes. The minimum services established by the Ministry of Transport are set at least 50% on state-owned routes, but vary depending on the type of service and schedules in the Autonomous Communities.
Drivers demand recognition of the hardship and danger of the profession and, with it, the establishment of reducing coefficients that anticipate the retirement age. A benefit, without penalty in pensions, enjoyed by train drivers or air pilots, among other groups. Social Security has had a request in this regard on hold since 2011.
The resolution of minimum services establishes that long-haul services are provided in their entirety when they are direct lines. In the case of routes owned by Autonomous Communities and regions, the minimum service varies from the 60% that Navarra has stipulated at peak times, to 50% in the Balearic Islands or 40% in Catalonia. In the city of Madrid, the service obligation reaches 75% for EMT buses between 6:00 and 9:30 in the morning, and 50% during off-peak hours. In the case of intercity routes, the maximum reaches 80% during peak hours, dropping to 45% during off-peak hours.
This Monday is the first of seven days of 24-hour strike called until Christmas. The next ones will be on November 11, 28 and 29, and December 5, 9 and 23. If an agreement is not reached between companies and unions by that last date, the strikes will lead to an indefinite strike.
The employers’ associations Confebus and the Association of Urban and Metropolitan Public Transport (ATUC) They regretted on Friday that the labor conflict had broken out without the mandatory negotiation table taking place.. The parties did go through the SIMA Mediation Service without that contact concluding with an agreement. The strike Yes, it was deactivated last week in the case of ambulances and professional transport of goods.
In the case of road passenger transport, business associations demand dialogue and a study on the impact that an early retirement regime would have on the sector. Confebus has revealed on numerous occasions that bus companies suffer from a deficit of more than 4,000 drivers.
Regarding the risks of driving, the unions maintain that more than two thirds of the 120 professional drivers who die each year on average on the road are over 55 years of age. In fact, CC OO and UGT complain that these losses are masked as traffic accidents and are not taken into account as workplace accidents.
Article 206 of the General Social Security Law establishes that the minimum age of access to the retirement pension may be lowered by royal decree, at the proposal of the head of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, in those groups or professional activities whose jobs are of an exceptionally arduous, toxic, dangerous or unhealthy nature and have high rates of morbidity or mortality.
