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Public transport workers across the Region of Murcia are on strike again today, Thursday October 8, after another round of talks at the Labour Mediation and Arbitration Office (OMAL) ended on Wednesday without a deal.

 

Employees of the various concession companies have been calling a strike every Thursday and plan to carry on until an agreement is reached to renew the sector's collective agreement. Urban buses in Murcia and Cartagena, services to the outlying districts of Murcia and intercity buses run by the Regional Government will all be affected, along with the Murcia Tram, although participation there is expected to be low. Minimum services will cover 60% of trips at peak times and 40% off-peak.

 

Francisco Tomás Muñoz Frutos, president of the works council at Monbus, which runs services to the outlying districts of Murcia, explained that the workers' side has made an effort to unblock the situation. Their main demand, an annual rest schedule, had already been scaled back to cover weekends only, and on Wednesday they offered to drop it altogether as long as the agreement ran for two years instead of the three originally planned.

 

According to Mr Muñoz Frutos, the employers' association turned that down and also opposed updating salaries in line with the CPI over the next three years, limiting it to 2% in the final year. A proposal that public holidays falling during holiday periods shouldn't count as holiday time was rejected too. "We've given up what's most important to us, at least for the time being, and companies have hardened their stance," he lamented.

 

Workers also held a rally from 9am to 11am outside the Ministry of Development offices in Santoña square in Murcia, and this protest will be repeated each Thursday while the strikes continue, alternating with rallies outside Murcia City Hall.

 

A new meeting will take place at OMAL next Wednesday, and it will either unblock the situation or confirm a fresh strike on Thursday October 15.

 

Image: Monbus