Delays and long lines: another day of strike by TIB workers

PalmTIB workers are carrying out the second day of strikes this Monday in a series of demonstrations that began on Friday to demand that their demands be accepted in the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement. This second day began early in the morning and was felt at bus stations across the islands, where delays and long lines of passengers accumulated.

In this process, the government has begun to mediate. The SATI union—the largest union in the sector—estimated 100% participation in the first day of strike among TIB drivers in Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza, although it should be noted that the government has established minimum service rates of 60%.

On Friday, workers held a demonstration at the Palma Intermodal Station to express their discontent over the failure to reach an agreement with the concessionaires to improve their working conditions. A series of incidents also occurred during the day, including one involving seven buses belonging to one of the TIB concessionaires, which suffered damage, including broken windows caused by stone throwing.

Among their demands is an 8.5% pay rise to recover the purchasing power lost in recent years due to inflation and to regulate their working hours to guarantee drivers rest periods.

Regarding breaks, the head of SATI, Jesús Rodríguez, indicated that, despite having the right to 30 minutes of rest, drivers' working hours can be irregular, so that sometimes they work seven or eight hours "without getting up from the seat", since there are days when they may work an hour more or less.

Thus, he stressed that one of the requests is that drivers cannot work more than eight and a half hours a day, but he stressed that it should be specified that breaks should be a minimum of 15 minutes, because currently these 30 minutes can be divided in any way. He also claimed that when they have five-minute breaks, they "charge the passengers."

For her part, the manager of the Balearic Federation of Transport (FEBT), Petra Mut, lamented the impossibility of reaching an agreement, given that the positions between both parties, despite nearly eight months of negotiation, remain very far apart. Mut denied that the ten concessionaire companies do not want to "dignify the profession" and argued that, since the conditions are subject to public tenders—which will end in 2030—the room for maneuver is relatively small.

Rodríguez emphasized that the new Ministry of Labor, Civil Service and Social Dialogue has initiated mediation with each of the parties in the conflict, but stressed that the employers' position "has hardly changed."

However, it should be noted that on Friday, the government spokesman, Antoni Costa, ruled out intervening in the negotiations between the union and the TIB concessionaires, stating that he would act as a "facilitator" and calling for "responsibility" from all parties.

Strike on Wednesday and indefinite strike starting Friday

If an agreement is not reached between the parties, the strike will continue with another 24-hour stoppage on Wednesday and, starting Friday, will become an indefinite strike.