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– There is not necessarily an increased risk of infection.
The bus strike now affects Oslo and the surrounding area and Saturday bus drivers in Vestland, Trøndelag, Rogaland and Finnmark, as well as much of Nordland and all of Kristiansand, will go on strike, if the parties have not reached a solution at that time.
It has been 22 years since the last bus strike. In a leader in Nettavisen Monday morning, the unions are under fire for the time being.
“In a time of emergency when most people fear for their jobs, companies go bankrupt and more than 200,000 are totally or partially unemployed, it is not musical to stop society with a wage dispute,” writes the editor of Nettavisen, Gunnar Stavrum.
The Oslo city council leader is also concerned. The routes report on Monday about trams that have been so full that they have to go through stops. If the pressure was great before, now it is even greater, due to the bus strike, Johansen noted during a press conference on Monday afternoon:
– Busy trams during a pandemic increase the risk of infection, said Raymond Johansen (Labor Party) during the press conference.
Also read: Threat to paralyze the whole of Norway: It can lead all bus drivers to strike
– It does not necessarily increase the risk of infection.
Union leader Jim Klungnes in Yrkestrafikkforbundet responds to Nettavisen’s question about whether a bus strike now creates unnecessary additional pressure on people going to work and school:
– Regrettably yes. A strike goes beyond a third party and we apologize for that. We see that it is a challenge with more crowded trams and subways. People need to try to have a home office. But I also hope you have some understanding, when the employer makes sure that the salary goes down year after year.
– Is it okay for the whole of society to be exposed to a greater risk of infection in other means of transport so that bus drivers receive a higher salary?
– There is not necessarily an increased risk of infection. Now there is advice on bandages, but it should be a requirement.
Bus drivers themselves are increasingly exposed to the risk of infection, notes the union leader:
– When the bus drivers drove with the front door closed for a long time, the driver was served. The front doors are now more and more open. Then the risk of infection for drivers will increase. And they are very vulnerable to passing customers. And they carry hundreds, maybe thousands of passengers in one day. Drivers have made a huge contribution and will also be penalized in the settlement of wages. That is not right.
Read also: Oslo on a “red” level with infection rates: Old Oslo, St. Hanshaugen and Sagene are the most affected
– Employer exploits the pandemic
Klungnes explains the strike with a long-standing development in which drivers have lost purchasing power and the gap with the wages of ordinary industrial workers has increased.
– We are in a situation where we have not reached a solution for several years. We have had an agreement with the employer on a salary development in line with industrial workers; instead, we see that the distance only increases and increases. There will come a time when this must be redeemed. Employers are now using all means to keep drivers’ wages low, including the pandemic, Klungnes says.
– How do you think the employer is taking advantage of the pandemic?
– They have ensured that it is completely black. But they say that every year. Other years there are other explanations. Nor is it true that the economy of the bus companies is completely black. We don’t have a license, but on the contrary we need more people.
Also read: Raymond Johansen fears that the bus strike will cause an increase in infection in Oslo
Klungnes believes criticism that the strike is “unmusical” because so many groups have been hit hard becomes unreasonable.
– There are many industries that are struggling, but in the bus industry we rather have a shortage of people. There is no connection here, it is the employer who is responsible for this, says Klungnes.
He believes that it is very clear that the strike is justified:
– This was a very simple choice. There was no doubt that there would be a strike now. We did not see any desire for a solution on the part of the employer. It is not the situation in other industries that will determine this.
– Sacks aft
According to Jim Klungnes, the evolution of bus drivers’ wages for many consecutive years has gone in the opposite direction to the principle that wages should be in line with the industrial worker’s wage, which was established in an agreement between the parties in 2006.
While the driver’s salary a few years ago was 97 percent of the industrial worker’s salary, the level is now 91.2 percent, according to the union leader.
-But what is the essential requirement that makes it necessary to strike now?
– We have seen for several years that the distance increases. That trend must be reversed! We cannot accept that the distance should increase. But it is completely impossible to answer how much is good enough. Bus drivers and their unions must finally answer yes or no. Entrepreneurs no longer know what drivers mean because they don’t ask them. This is due in part to strong centralization.
Also read: Oslo City Council on the pressure of infection: We must do the same this spring
– I can’t go any further
According to Jon H. Stordrange, CEO of NHO Transport, there is a logical explanation for the fact that the gap between wages for industrial workers and wages for bus drivers has increased:
– When the bus industry agreement was signed in 2006, drivers were 86 percent of the industrial worker’s salary, while now they are at 91.1 percent, according to figures from the Technical Calculation Committee. So there has been a slight improvement in the meantime, but this has stalled a bit in recent years. But that’s because industrial work has changed. One in five jobs have been lost since 2006, and most of these jobs were low-wage, highly-staffed jobs. The jobs that remain are the ones that previously had the highest pay, and then the gap increases, Stordrange tells Nettavisen.
– Klungnes says NHO takes advantage of the pandemic to not meet the demands of many years. Do you have any comments on this?
– I can’t say we have it. All those who operate passenger transport have noticed a reduction in the number of passengers. When the passengers disappear, the ticket revenue disappears and then we have to look at the costs. Public transport has received NOK 3.1 billion from the state from March to August, but now that money has been used up. We hope and believe there will be more, but not without clear demands for cost reduction. State subsidies should be used to maintain a public transportation service, not to increase the salaries of some groups over others.
NHO’s offer to bus drivers is NOK 3 per hour, which corresponds to 1.7 percent.
– It is a little more than many others, which are two crowns, but that is because there are no local supplements here, says Stordrange.
– We have good finances
Klungnes refutes a connection between the subsidy and the bus driver’s situation:
– There is no strained economy in the bus companies themselves. The county municipalities own the routes, collect ticket revenue and are responsible for the public transportation companies. Like personnel companies, bus companies receive the same payment regardless. It is politically controlled that we should have public transportation.
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