A former Dolomitibus gives voice to the discontent of the drivers: “They are away for more than 13 hours, they pay them 6.40 a day”
AGORDINO. «An old DolomitiBus driver told me about when they went on strike for 17 days to win rights. Now we also do tape shifts of 13-14 hours a day, but the union thinks about making T-shirts to sponsor the company while we ride our bikes in the waiting hours between one race and another ».
Gabriele Masoch, 39, from Gosaldo, is now a former DolomitiBus driver. In fact, last April he resigned after 11 years driving the courier company throughout the province, especially in the Agordina valley. When he started in 2009, he thought that this would be his life’s work and that he would fit into a tradition of appreciated Agordino drivers who still today many remember with affection for their skill and cordiality: Daniele Schena, Giorgio Ren, Federico Manfroi, Renzo Miola, Adamo Bressan, Silvano Bressan, the late Vito Fusina just to name a few. «And instead», Masoch says today, «for four years now the working conditions have drastically changed and gradually they have become unsustainable for me. So I decided to quit. “
Now Gabriele works in Primiero for a company in the construction sector, but he has not forgotten his work colleagues. “It is for them”, he says, “for the solidarity they showed me when I decided to leave, which I want to say mine, I want to explain what the life of a DolomitiBus driver has become”.
That is, he wants to give voice to a discomfort that in his opinion is spreading among former colleagues who, to avoid retaliation, prefer to keep a low profile and arrive in silence for retirement; or, just as in silence, change jobs. “To work shifts in Agordino”, explains Masoch, “in 2018 there were 29 drivers, today there are 19. Once upon a time there were local drivers who today, and this is the case of my other old colleagues, preferred to go to work with Valpe or in the Municipalities. Mine was a deliberate choice, I couldn’t take it anymore. When I started, eleven years ago, I was working a shift of six hours, maximum eight. In recent times, however, so-called belt shifts have become more and more frequent. What does it mean? It means that, to give an example, in the morning I left at six from the Agordo bus station, did the Agordo-Lambroi route, returned to Agordo and then had a break of about four hours between 8 and 12.30. So I resumed service at 12.30 to 15 for Luxottica shift workers. I stayed two more hours until 5pm and completed the day with the shift from 5pm to 7.30pm. In short: I was around 13 and a half hours, but they paid me 6 and 40 minutes ».
What Masoch wants to highlight is the empty time that drivers must forcibly spend between one ride and another. “What are the drivers to do while they wait?” He asks himself, “go mushrooming? What if it rains? What if you are in Arabba with 10/15 degrees below zero? In those hours anxiety and nervousness accumulate and then you have to get back on the bus with the responsibility of bringing workers and students ».
For Masoch these are situations that are not taken into due consideration by local trade unionists. “While I read that Trentino Trasporti and the unions beyond have signed with satisfaction an agreement for the supplementary contract”, concludes Masoch, “I learn that the Cisl trade union delegate in DolomitiBus rejoices over the agreement for the creation of t-shirts with which the drivers they can advertise the company. I would never have expected it from a trade unionist. On the other hand, from the company and the province, I would expect greater attention to users throughout the Belluno area, especially those in the more peripheral areas ». –
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