Linas Jegelevičius
This week, public transit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, has been crippled by an indefinite strike of the city’s bus and trolleybus drivers who are unsatisfied with the labour payment system and the work conditions.
Vilnius Public Transport (VVT), the capital’s municipal company managing public transport in Vilnius, and the Vilnius authorities said around 520 drivers, almost half of its workforce, joined the ranks of strikers, and they mostly included trolleybus drivers.
VVT attempted to legally contest the drivers’ decision to go on strike but withdrew its request in court to stop it after the trade union was obligated to perform at least half of the regular routes in Vilnius.
As labour conditions-caused strikes in Lithuania are rare, the Vilnius drivers’ strike is echoing throughout the country’s other municipalities where public transport drivers also complain of unbearable work conditions and little pay.
«Kaunas drivers are supporting our Vilnius colleagues with all our hearts. We’d happily join them here in Kaunas, but the collective labour agreement we have here signed prevents us from doing that.
The conditions the drivers work under in Vilnius and Kaunas are similar and unbearable. First of all, we have very long work hours and overtime is unpaid mostly. The local transport authorities plagued with a shortage of public transport drivers insist that we work longer hours than agreed.
The average wage is ridiculous – around one thousand euros, or even less, after deducted taxes. No wonder that seeing a young driver is a rarity – most are over 60. Thirdly, as the administrations and passengers demand insistently to arrive at a station on time, so the drivers are compelled to violate traffic rules, cross the lines and et cetera. Needless to say, they are subject to enormous stress – daily,» Petras Balčaitis, chairman of the Kaunas bus and trolley bus driver union told BNN.
His counterpart in Vilnius could not be reached for comment.
The strike is being held after the union has failed to resolve a year-long disagreement with the VVT management over the methodology for calculating workers’ wages and improving working conditions.
The workers’ representatives are vehemently demanding that the wage system be included in the collective agreement. Specifically, that a 10 percent wage increase be part of the collective agreement and that the agreements reached in the 2018 collective agreement are not substantially changed.
Vilnius transit system drivers are demanding a five-day working week and a guaranteed 30-minute lunch break after five hours of shift, but the company has allegedly not agreed to put that in the collective agreement.
According to a member of the VVT workers’ union, the strikers want to see their wages meet at least the national average.
The main point of disagreement is the revised procedure for performance bonuses. Until now, the company has applied a so-called deduction system, where the bonus was reduced for sloppiness, impoliteness, passenger complaints, and other infringements of discipline.
According to VVT, bonuses for exemplary workers can reach 250 euros per month. Meanwhile, the union said criteria are arbitrary and management’s decisions are often based on sympathies and antipathies.
However, what especially angered Vilnius drivers was the VVT’s unilateral approval of the new salary payment, which foresaw raising workers’ wages by 10-20 percent, less than the unions demanded.
The unions also want to adjust drivers’ wages corresponding to the actual economic situation in the country.
In the collective agreement, VVT also sought less coordination with the trade union. The latter does not accept the terms.
According to Algirdas Markevičius, chairman of the VVT trade union, the indefinite strike was planned to start on the 3rd of October this year, as a year-long disagreement with the VVT administration over salaries and working conditions has not been resolved.
Previously, the trade union mulled a strike in October of 2021, but a court injunction prevented it from going ahead due to the state of emergency being imposed throughout Lithuania then.
In May of this year, with the restrictions lifted, Vilnius Regional Court finally allowed public transport workers to go on strike but obligated then to ensure 50 percent of the services.
Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius was supportive of Vilnius public transport drivers’ demands in October but discouraged them from going on strike this time.
«The quality of public transportation is rising, the quality of drivers’ work is improving, the vehicles are improving, the infrastructure of bus stops is improving […]. I really take the strike plans seriously and I urge them not to do it, but to work together to improve things,» said the mayor last Friday.
Yet he has urged VVT workers to work together to improve the quality of public transport in Vilnius.
With no progress in the negotiations so far, the strike will continue. On Thursday, the 8th of December, both sides were to go back to the negotiating table. So far, both parties have been accusing each other of not seeking consensus.
VVT serves 76 out of 105 routes in the capital: five expressways, 17 trolleybuses, and 54 buses. Passenger transportation services are carried out by two other carriers, «Transrevis» and «Kautra», they transport passengers on a regular schedule. VVT has a total of 1,830 employees, over 1,100 of whom are drivers. In total, VVT employs 1,830 people, over 1,100 of whom are drivers.
Those joining the strike will not receive any pay, but the VVT trade union has promised to pay them 40 euros per day in compensation.