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Almost 193 trams can stop in Gothenburg on Wednesday afternoon when safety representatives on Gothenburg trams have introduced safety stops. This is after employers during negotiations yesterday failed to give any information that they can meet their demands for increased roadblocks.
– It’s about the safety of drivers. It is a sad story that has been happening since the beginning of March when they refused to impose barricades. In August, they wanted to remove them entirely, but instead they were scaled down, says Johan Kanmert, a security representative.
These will be trams where two or no seats are now cordoned off behind the drivers to protect against the spread of covid-19. Safety representatives want to see two more seats closed, but despite requesting a response from the employer overnight or late after a Tuesday meeting, they did not receive a message until Wednesday morning.
– They don’t communicate at all, the only thing we got today on 04.04 was “We think it’s good as is”. No comment, they don’t speak at all. There is nothing but prestige, they believe it is more important to push people rather than the safety of drivers, says Johan Kanmert.
READ MORE: Protection threat stop on trams – again
“Pure circus, it’s bad communication”
It is not clear which lines may be affected by the stop. The affected tram models, M31, M29, M28 PLC and M28, are run throughout the city. Only 64 trams will continue to operate.
– This is a pure circus, it is bad communication, says Johan Kanmert.
According to Gothenburg tram communications director Anette Johansson, they have now contacted the Swedish Work Environment Authority on the matter.
– Soon we will have a reconciliation. I cannot comment further on the suspension of protection. Since the pandemic began, we have worked together with measures to protect drivers, it has gone in different steps. At the moment, what we agreed to last time is that we have advanced the barriers in the carriages further to provide passengers with the necessary travel space, says Anette Johansson.
They will be notified later in the day if they will take any action before the safeguard shutdown takes effect.
Joint inspection with the Swedish work environment authority
At 1:30 pm, Gothenburg Tramways announced that they had decided that the Swedish Work Environment Authority, the employer and the safety representatives plan to meet before 3:00 pm to jointly conduct an inspection of the trams.
– Then we will go through what the security representatives declare as threats to life and health, which according to the law is required for threats of security stoppages, says Anette Johansson.
At 1:47 p.m., new information came in that Gothenburg’s trams intend to bypass the safety stop by offering drivers other ways to get around between work shifts than on the tram itself.
– It is at this point that the risk of infection is declared a problem. Therefore, we will now offer drivers access to new work shifts in another way. Now we’re sitting around and looking for solutions, but it could be traffic management cars and other vehicles that we have at our disposal, says Anette Johansson.
READ MORE: New conflict over obstacles
Security representative skeptical of the solution
Johan Kanmert believes that on about three occasions offering transportation for drivers outside of the trams has been on the agenda, but that it has never worked.
– They have looked at it many times and I don’t know how to make that logistics work. There are reasons why they have chosen this solution, they make a simple thing very difficult, says Johan Kanmert and continues:
– The aim is to expand the barrier with two seats in some of the tram models. Now we are waiting for inspection by the Swedish Work Environment Authority at 3pm, no work solution can be implemented until there is a safety stop.
The text is updated.
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