Coach strike threatened as talks break down

PALMA
THE unions have abandoned collective bargaining negotiations for their members in the tourist transport sector, and have threatened to call a strike in the middle of the electoral campaign, hoping to provoke the intervention of the Balearic Government.

The CC.OO, UGT and Balearic Independent Transport Union are expected to meet on Monday.
During this meeting the representatives of the 2'500 tourist transport sector will decide whether to call the strike or not.
The collective bargaining process for the tourist transport workers started on January 10.
Initially the three unions could not come to an agreement to present a joint case, and each one presented their own proposals, until this week when they presented a joint proposal.

The joint proposal includes, amongst other things, an increase in salary in line with the Consumer Price Index plus three percentage points; recognition of the age of their contracts; an increase in their subsistence allowance, and the agreement to last for two years.

BOSSES
The bosses association, the Balearic Federation of Transport Companies (FEBT), has described the unions' proposal as “totally unacceptable”.
The Federation represents approximately 70 tourist transport companies on the islands, with a total fleet of 1'500 vehicles.
Carlos Sedano, representative of the Federation, added that the negotiations started late and there was no agreement amongst the unions. “The fact that we had to deal with three proposals from three different unions did nothing more than delay the negotiations”, he said.
He went on, “On Thursday they presented us with a joint verbal proposal and wanted to continue the negotiations over the weekend, and this was something which we could not and would not agree to”.

The Federation is offering an increase in line with the Consumer Price Index and that the agreement lasts for two years.
In addition to this they are negotiating other points, such as the age of the contracts and the subsistence allowance for workers in this sector. “In their last proposal the unions asked us for a salary increase of 5.7 percent and a working day of seven hours”, said Sedano.
The Federation's representative added that “this is a totally unacceptable proposal due to the costs involved”.