CBA negotiations

Bus drivers: union demands improvements

Reinhard Stemmer and Mirsada Dizdarevic at the press conference on Thursday.(Bild: ÖGB)

Bus drivers are very displeased about the stalled collective bargaining negotiations - especially in Vorarlberg. Among other things, union boss Reinhard Stemmer is calling for bus drivers to be removed from the shortage occupation list. 

The collective bargaining negotiations for the 12,000 employees of private bus companies throughout Austria - 800 of them in Vorarlberg - have stalled. Talks were started two years ago to improve working conditions. Although the employers made an offer to the responsible trade union vida at the end of January, this was a "sham package", says Reinhard Stemmer, vida regional chairman for Vorarlberg. The employers would obviously prefer to rely on "blackmailable drivers with red-white-red cards from outside the EU and wage dumping" instead of making the industry more attractive. Stemmer is now calling for the profession of bus driver to be removed from the shortage occupation list.

After all, the shortage of staff is self-inflicted and can only be sustainably remedied by improving working conditions. There is enough need for action, as Mirsada Dizdarevic, Deputy Chairwoman of the Works Council at ÖBB Postbus GmbH, emphasizes: "When everyone else is asleep and off work, bus drivers drive and don't get enough pay for it - family life also suffers as a result." In addition, the work and time pressure is constantly increasing due to the staff shortage. "The working days are long, but due to split shifts - long unpaid breaks between two shorter shifts - they only provide a fraction of paid working time," explains Dizdarevic.

Stemmer threatens strike action
At least the bus drivers were able to ensure that the employers are now back at the negotiating table by taking protest action - as they did recently in Bregenz. The level of discontent was also evident at the most recent works meetings in the state, which were extremely well attended. "At the meetings, the workforce voted overwhelmingly in favor of union action, i.e. strike action," says Stemmer, putting the rod in the employers' window. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for February 17 - if there are no results, a first warning strike will be held on February 20.