after a month of strike, bus drivers nonetheless offended and dialogue at a standstill | EUROtoday

We can solely see their eyes, the one piece of anatomy not lined by a hat, a shawl or a pair of gloves. There are twenty-one of them, huddled of their chairs organized in a circle across the fireplace by which a wood pallet continues to be burning. This Tuesday, December 10 within the morning marks the thirty third day of strike by bus drivers in Cergy-Pontoise (Val-d’Oise). Since November 7, they’ve been assembly in entrance of the Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône bus depot (Val-d’Oise), to protest in opposition to their employer, the corporate Francilité Seine et Oise (FSO).

This social battle has its roots within the opening to competitors of bus traces within the higher Paris suburbs by the transport authority Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), inside the framework of European Union rules. . On January 1, 2024, the corporate FSO of the Lacroix & Savac group, chosen by IDFM following a name for tenders, took cost of the traces hitherto managed by Stivo on the Cergy-Pontoise aspect and Transdev on the Conflans aspect. Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines). The operator should due to this fact develop a brand new settlement with staff by transferring from two to a single sector.

It is that this settlement that triggers the protests. THE “former Stivo” protect their wage of two,400 euros web month-to-month on common with bonuses. But the brand new drivers, who’ve arrived because the sector was taken over by FSO, signal their contract for 1,490 euros. “They are paid 13.70 euros per hour whereas in 1998, when I joined the company, I was paid 15 euros per hour,” breathes Cyrille Mauger, Force Ouvrière (FO) union delegate, who has simply handed his 33^e evening on the picket web site.

Mehdi, 31, is without doubt one of the “newbies”. Barely 5 months after his arrival, he thought-about resigning. “I go from a salary of 2,500 euros as a temporary driver to 1,450 euros on a permanent contract here. My banker is angry and so am I,” he exasperated. The younger driver additionally denounces the “cut days” recurring. If he had not gone on strike on Tuesday, Mehdi would have labored from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. then from 3 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. “I don’t get paid between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. whereas the old Stivos, yes, he continues. I get up at 4:45 a.m. and go home at 9 p.m. because of traffic, it’s not a life. »

Patrick Valet, driver for fourteen years, who is one of the veterans, claims to have lost “200 euros salary” since FSO took over the sector. On his obligation sheet, which lists his each day journey minute by minute, it’s written that he should work from 5:42 a.m. to 12:39 p.m. this Wednesday, December 11. “The meal bonus is triggered from 12:40 p.m., so I lose 9 euros of bonus for one minute less work”, he explains in a disillusioned tone. “If there are aberrations like this, we will discuss them and discover options. We could have missed issuesacknowledges Stéphane Bonnaud, improvement director of Lacroix & Savac.

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