A “larger group” of Wiener Linien employees had written an anonymous letter complaining about the poor working conditions in the company. They demand change.
As a result, many employees left the company shortly after they were hired. The result is too few staff and long waiting times for “public transport”, reports ORF Vienna, which has the letter. The fluctuations are great, few have stayed with Wiener Linien for more than three years. The reason is the high level of responsibility in the driver service. Wiener Linien understands the annoyance.
Job is not family friendly
This responsibility has been increasing for years with the ever-increasing volume of traffic, bus, tram and metro drivers complain. The starting salary of 2300 euros gross will not increase. In addition, the job is not family friendly – the “interrupter services” would increase and are no longer up to date.
Complaints about absenteeism
Especially for commuters: “You start at 5am, then drive until about 9:50am, now there’s an unpaid break of about four to six hours, then you start again at 2pm and drive until late in the evening,” quotes the ORF from the Writings. There are also complaints about absenteeism due to illness.
“We understand that you are currently angry because there are often longer waiting times for public transport,” Wiener Linien tweeted. “The current wave of illness and the tense situation on the labor market present us with a major challenge. Baby boomers are retiring and there are fewer people in the job market to follow. Therefore, short-term disruptions to trams and buses can be expected again and again at the moment.
Wiener Linien’s boss assures consequences
The head of Wiener Linien is aware that the situation in the driver service is not easy. “That is precisely why we negotiated with the employee representatives at the end of last week about a corresponding increase in the collective labor agreement,” says Alexandra Reinagl. “I was appointed CEO in November and am thoroughly examining all processes in the driver service. If there is misconduct or unexplained deviations, that also has consequences.”
Scheduled 35 hours per week
According to the report, the works council mainly refers to the realized salary increase of up to 11.62 percent for the driver service and the planned reduction of working hours to 35 hours per week: “In addition, there is an inflation bonus of 500 euros. For Christmas and New Year’s Eve, together with the management of Wiener Linien, we have obtained an extra allowance of 100 euros per day.”
As a representative of the working population, he regrets that his colleagues chose the media route and did not seek direct dialogue, the works council continued. However, the problem of longer waiting times for the tram is unlikely to solve this in the short term.
Source: Krone
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