The strike by Lanzarote Bus workers and all the companies in the group (Guaguas Lanzarote, Jocaba and Guaguas Jocaba) continues for the second consecutive day. However, it is only being carried out in discretionary transport, that is, the transfer of tourists and common passengers, since a decree from the Canary Islands Government obliges them to carry out 100% of school transport. This decree considers the transport of students to be “essential for the community”, stipulating that the “minimum services” must cover the entirety.
The Secretary of Social Action of the Transport Federation of Intersindical Canaria, José Manuel Moreno, has questioned in statements to La Voz that the decree has been signed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports of the Canary Islands Government, something that “they do not understand” from the union, since they affirm that it must be signed by the “General Director of Labor”.
“We understand that the essential services for the community are firefighters, ambulances, hospitals, or public transport, but school transport is an addition that the Ministry has”, Moreno stated, who anticipates that they have brought it to the attention of their legal services “so that they file the appropriate complaints”.
According to José Manuel Moreno, this obligation to carry out school transport “is restricting the freedom to strike”, and he also criticizes “the speed” of the administration to sign that decree, since he considers that “they are not so fast” to solve the problem of the workers.
Moreno assures that, for now, the company's management “has not reacted” to the pressure from the workers, and recalls that the requests are fundamentally two: the split shift situation of the workers and the “ridiculous” 26 euros of salary increase.
Moreno details that a driver can start the day “at 5 in the morning to carry out an airport transfer”. Later, he adds, he carries out “school transport”, and once finished he gets out of the vehicle “five or six hours”, and then completes a day of “seven or eight hours more”. In addition, the driver has the obligation to clean the vehicle “without getting anything in return”.
“The worker is waiting for the company for 14 hours, and finishes around 11 at night and at 5 in the morning he is back on the road”, Moreno criticized, who invites the parents' associations of the educational centers to “investigate” how many hours the workers in the sector work.
