The workers’ assembly accepts the salary increase agreed between the company and the unions and avoids resuming the partial strikes in Barcelona
The staff of the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) buses have certified the end of the partial stoppages in the service. The staff convened in assembly this Tuesday has accepted the pre-agreement that the public company and the majority of unions with representation in the works council (CCOO, UGT, CGT and SIT) sealed last week.
The workers were called to vote if they endorsed the proposal to offset the impact of inflation in the pockets of employees. In the first round of voting, the ‘no’ to the pact had taken a slight advantage, but the ‘yes’ has been redone in the afternoon round and has ended up clearly imposingsay union sources.
The practical effect of the result is that it puts an end to the labor conflict that was evident at the end of September, coinciding with La Mercè, with a first round of protests that caused queues and crowds at bus stops. If the agreement had not been endorsed, the strike would have resumed indefinitely as of Thursday. The effects were expected to coincide with peak hours on weekdays, in the fringes from 08:00 to 10:00, from 16:00 to 18:00 and from 03:00 to 05:00. However, the majority of the staff has chosen to give up the mobilizations.
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The unions that signed the TMB offer already anticipated that support was at the expense of most staff revalidating it. After reaching a principle of entente in the negotiation for the collective agreement from 2022 to 2025, the strike committee called off the demonstrations scheduled for October 17, 18 and 19, waiting for the assembly to position itself on the pre-agreement.
TMB offered to increase the salary of the bus staff by 3.5% -formed by 4,459 workers- this 2022 to alleviate the loss of purchasing power due to the general increase in prices. In addition, the payment of new premiums was contemplated, conditioned to the fulfillment of some assessed objectives.