It will be a field day for all commuters. The first 24-hour transport strike of the new year also and above all concerns Rome. The mobilization tomorrow, Wednesday 24 January, called by Cobas Lavoro Privato, ADL, SGB, Cub Trasporti, Cobas workers associations, Usb and Orsa, will involve public transport workers, obviously including those of Atac and Cotral. Thus, as happened with other strikes, buses, metro, trains and trams will be at risk throughout the day, excluding the guarantee bands provided by law.
Times and methods of the strike
On the Atac network the service will be guaranteed exclusively during the legal periods, therefore from the start of the daytime service until 8.29 in the morning and from 5.00 to 7.59 in the evening. The strike also concerns the connections carried out by other operators under subcontracting and the entire network of RomaTpl and ATI Autoservizi Troiani/Sap operators in the Roma Capitale area and in the municipalities of the metropolitan city. In short, all road transport in the province of Rome will also be paralysed. Furthermore, during the strike, the service of escalators, elevators and stairlifts will not be guaranteed in the stations of the metrorail network which will remain, possibly open.
As regards the services managed by Cotral, regional buses and trains will be at risk, in particular the Metromare and the Roma Viterbo. The service will be regular until 8:30 in the morning. Then cancellations will be possible until 5pm when the service should, conditionally, return to normal until 8pm. New inconveniences, then, until the end of the service.
Articulation of the strike
Pay particular attention to how the transport of the Atac network will be managed. During the night between 23 and 24 January, the service of the night bus lines will not be guaranteed, while the service of the daytime lines which have scheduled runs beyond midnight will be guaranteed. The night runs of the lines 38-44-61-86-170 are also regular. -246-301-451-664-881-916-980 and lines 314-404-444 of the RomaTpl company
On January 24th, in addition to what has already been said, the daytime lines that have trips scheduled beyond midnight will not be guaranteed. The night trips of lines 38-44-61-86-170-246-301-451-664 are also at risk -881-916-980 and the lines 314-404-444 of the RomaTpl company. Finally, on the night between 24 and 25 January, bus service will be guaranteed.
Provisions for workers
To minimize inconvenience for users and, at the same time, guarantee the right to strike, Atac has communicated management provisions to its employees. In particular, in addition to remembering the guarantee periods during which the service must be active, it was explained what to do before and after the strike.
Driving personnel for buses and trolleybuses must be on duty at least 30 minutes before the end of the protest. 50 minutes instead for the tram driving staff. The drivers of metro A will have to be on duty 30 to 90 minutes before the end of the mobilization or the beginning of the guarantee periods. The workers of metro B and B1, however, are unlucky: from 30 to 120 minutes before. On the other hand, metro C train drivers can arrive on duty up to 45 minutes earlier. Obviously, everyone is obliged to complete the journeys started, even if these would end after the end of the guarantee periods.
Reasons for the strike
There are various reasons that led to the proclamation of the 24-hour strike. Cobas Lavoro Privato, Adl, SGB and CUB Trasporti ask for a salary increase of 300 euros, the reduction of working hours from 39 to 35 hours per week, with the same salary, and the reduction of the driving time and working hours for drivers. More safety and health in the workplace not only for operators but also for users of the local public transport service. Finally, they ask for the blocking of privatizations and the related tenders for the TPL.
Usb and the Cobas Workers Association put, at the top of the list, the battle against “any form of limitation of the right to strike”, a clear reference to the recent precepts of the transport minister, Matteo Salvini. From an economic point of view, they ask for an increase in entry salaries for new hires and a stop to the privatization of the public service.