Attention! Strike paralyses transport throughout Hungary
The Solidarity bus transport union has called a strike, so there will be no Volánbus services in Hungary on 28-29 January.
István Dobi, president of the Solidarity Bus Transport Trade Union, announced that they will not accept the employer’s wage offer, and therefore announced a two-day strike for 28-29 January. The president added that the strike would be called off immediately if an acceptable offer was made.
The president of the trade union said that they would not accept a multi-year wage agreement, but wanted a one-year deal instead. However, the president also announced a concession: instead of the previous 25 percent wage increase, they will settle for 20 percent.
The Steering Committee ignores the threat by Transport Minister János Lázár, who says he refuses to negotiate under pressure. István Dobi said: the palm grows under pressure, Népszava.hu writes.
It was also decided, he said, that instead of a meeting of the Group-level Stakeholder Council of the MÁV-Volán group, they would like to continue wage negotiations with Volánbusz Zrt. The reason for this is that the wages of Volánbus drivers are significantly lower than those of employees at MÁV-Start, for example.
The wage negotiations will continue on 23 January. So far, nearly 60 percent of the bus drivers, 5978 drivers, have joined the strike.
Read also:
- Key changes in Hungarian public transport summarised in 10 points
- BKK announcement: public transport in Budapest to change by March
There is no pressure. He knew he needed to give a raise, but like the promises to the teachers, his words were basically a stall tactic. Now that they called him on it, he is saying he is being pressured. The drivers feel pressure every time they get their electric bill or pay at the market!