"They mistreat the user": SFM workers complain about the chaos and deteriorating service.

PalmThe Mallorca Railway Services Works Council (SFM) has issued a statement expressing its "full" support. to train users, which in recent days have suffered delays, congestion, frequency cuts, and an alarming lack of information, "a consequence of incidents, breakdowns, and poorly planned construction work." "Situations like those experienced last Wednesday and Friday reflect a chronic lack of coordination, where decisions are made from offices without consulting either employees or users," the Committee emphasized in its letter, noting that the result is "an overwhelmed service, with constant improvisation and poor management."

"We understand that unforeseen events can arise, but we consider it unacceptable that in cases where prior planning is available—as in the case of the works at Verge de Lluc—neither operating personnel nor users are informed in a timely and clear manner," they criticize. In this regard, they assert that new schedules are announced with barely 24 hours' notice, staff shifts are communicated at the last minute, and on many occasions, workers themselves find out through the press. This way of managing public transport, they denounce, demonstrates "a disregard for the service and for those who keep it running, generating predictable and perfectly avoidable chaos."

The Committee also criticized safety and emphasized that the lack of planning and foresight is widespread. "Changes in traffic direction without clear protocols, incidents that are not analyzed or corrected, and a structure that operates by inertia, hoping 'nothing will happen.' It can't be that everything depends on the individual judgment of the driver in the face of unforeseen situations, while the rest of the structure looks the other way," they stated, referring to recent incidents such as this one. Ricardo Mar, a member of the Works Council, emphasizes that what they are denouncing is that there is now a high frequency and traffic volume, and that this increase "is not accompanied by an assumption of greater safety and competence." For this reason, the Council filed a complaint with the Labor Inspectorate a few months ago. "We ask that the situations and accidents be investigated, but nothing changes," laments Mas, stating that "the safety required by the service does not exist" and that all of this constitutes "mistreatment of users."

Unfulfilled Commitments

In the statement, they also explained that during the last term, when the focus was on increasing rail frequencies, a commitment was also made to strengthen the service's safety structure with the creation of two essential technical positions: a line infrastructure safety technician and a rolling stock safety technician, as well as the creation of a safety committee in the same area.

"Today, these have not materialized, despite being essential to guaranteeing safe railway operations and providing real oversight of the different elements of the system," they said, warning that this failure "represents a serious irresponsibility that directly contributes to its current opposition."

For these reasons, the Committee has demanded urgent measures and has requested realistic service planning in accordance with maintenance work, especially in the summer; clear and sufficient advance information for both staff and users; and increasingly high levels of uncertainty and stress.