“Broad” support for the strike in driving schools in Bizkaia, and the staff does not rule out making it indefinite

The workers of driving schools of Bizkaia they have awarded a “broad support” this monday at strike call until this Friday, October 29, in the sector; Furthermore, given that collective bargaining is, as they have specified, blocked, They “do not rule out” calling indefinite strikes.

In this context, the employees held a new protest in Bilbao this Monday, which consisted of a march that started from the Pío Baroja square, and concluded before the headquarters of the APAVI employers’ association to denounce that they have not been in office for eleven years. agreement.

The president of ATAB, the Association of Salaried Workers of Driving School of Bizkaia, Ana Alonso, has indicated that the situation of the negotiation is blocking, and that in the last meeting there was no progress.

In the words of Alonso, for the moment, no new meeting is planned, and, given the position of the employers, they have chosen to intensify the mobilizations that are being carried out.

The indefinite strike is not ruled out

Thus, this Monday a five-day strike began in the driving schools of Bizkaia, and Alonso has indicated that, if there are no movements in the negotiation, they do not rule out an indefinite strike.

For its part, ELA has specified that the strike, which is added to those carried out in June, July and September, has had “broad support”; Specifically, it has been the eleventh day of the strike, and it will continue with another four days until Friday, since the employers of the sector “are not showing any will to channel the conflict and seek consensus.”

The union recalled that the employers appeared “without any proposal” at the negotiating table called by ELA for October 20 at the headquarters of the CRL in Bilbao: “APAVI did not show any intention of approaching consensus and channeling the conflict”, it has indicated, and, therefore, as it has indicated, they have had “no other way than to go ahead with the mobilizations.”

According to ELA, the workers of driving schools in Bizkaia have not renewed their agreement for 11 years, and their “wages, hours and other working conditions are very precarious, and in many cases irregular.” In addition, he added, “there is a significant gender gap in the most feminized management positions.”

An agreement with contents “that regularize, dignify and improve the working conditions of the sector”

In this way, the call for strike for October 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29. Previously, there had been five days of strike between June and July and one more week between September 20 and 24 in defense of “an agreement with content that regularizes, dignify and improve working conditions of the sector “.

Among the demands of the organizers of the strike is to establish tables “of wage regularization and recovery of purchasing power”, since, in “almost all driving schools”, teachers combine “official salaries according to agreement with amounts that are they pay irregularly “, and non-teaching staff” barely reaches 1,000 gross euros per month. “

They also demand the reduction of working hours for non-teaching groups, and “important steps to equalize the teaching staff in the face of 35 hours a week”, as well as the “rationalization of schedules, which in many cases last until 9:00 p.m. days of up to 11 hours a day, including work on Saturdays “.

Likewise, it defends measures such as partial retirement that allow the rejuvenation of the workforce in a sector in which, as it has warned, “age can be a risk factor.”