EMT bus workers announce strike on first weekend of Christmas lights in Malaga

Malaga's public bus transport company (EMT) is threatening to mobilise a major strike on Friday, 28 November, which is the day when the Christmas lights will be switched on - a day that coincides with a high influx of people to the city centre. Strikes on subsequent days are not ruled out.

The company's employees complain of the high pressure to meet journey times and services. This in turn has led to high absenteeism due to depression and anxiety. They also complain about the ageing fleet, despite the fact that the company is engaged in a major investment plan to renew vehicles, as SUR has reported. As the workers state, replacing an old bus with a new one does not expand the fleet.

Union sources told SUR that on long-distance lines such as 1, 3, 7, 11, 15, 18 and 21 there is a lack of buses or megabuses to meet the very high passenger demand. Line 7, for example, takes one hour and ten minutes on weekdays to complete the journey and 40 minutes on weekends. This, the workers say, prevents them from meeting the allotted times. Of course, if there is sudden braking, a problem with the wheelchair ramp or any other incident, it causes further delays. "We have a system, the SAE, that tells us how much time we're running and sometimes, by the fourth stop, it already shows we're two minutes behind schedule," they say.

"We are calling for providing a good service, in good conditions, minimising occupational and passenger risks," they state.

They also complain about the lack of power in some vehicles and call for better fleet planning to manage the major routes. "They've just introduced line 20, but we need to add a lot of smaller buses."

The EMT workers state that the strike has nothing to do with payment conditions, but rather with the mental and physical deterioration that their contracts cause. "A colleague recently had an anxiety attack at the wheel and the ambulance had to come. They wanted to treat it as a common illness," the workers have said.

EMT workers are not shy to go viral in order to make their needs heard. They recently posted a video accompanied by a rap song created for the purpose, which alludes to manager Miguel Ruiz. The song lists all the issues that bus drivers in Malaga suffer the consequences of, followed by the workers' requests for better conditions.

"We have an absenteeism rate of almost 10% due to anxiety and stress," union sources have told SUR. In addition, workers sometimes don't even have the time to go to the loo.

Another problem is the lack of good management of the lines and the fleet, with full small buses often running very busy routes.

A workers' assembly was held on Monday morning, during which the mobilisation and its date were unanimously approved.

For the moment, the transport department of the city council has refused to make any assessment of the situation.