Commuters may have to wait longer for sweeping improvements to the bus service as talks over a new collective agreement, which the operator claims could have a major bearing on the level of operations, start from scratch.
Union Ħaddiema Maqgħudin general secretary Josef Vella yesterday said that Malta Public Transport (MTP) is expected to grant the union official recognition in the coming days.
During a meeting held on Friday in the presence of the Director of Employment, the UĦM submitted a formal request to represent the employees after the General Workers’ Union unexpectedly conceded defeat at the end of a lengthy recognition dispute.
“We sent the company the requested paperwork immediately after the talks, and we expect a formal decision in a few days’ time,” Mr Vella said. “Unless the GWU had entered into formal commitments on behalf of the employees, talks on a new collective agreement need to start afresh,” he added. Despite expanding its fleet and rolling out new routes, Spanish transport company Autobuses de Leon, which last January took over MTP, is still encountering problems especially on routes in tourist areas where the bus service cannot cope with demand.
In an interview with the Times of Malta last August, MPT CEO Julio Tironi had acknowledged that the service at times left much to be desired, but pointed out that certain mitigating measures required the backing of the drivers’ union.
Mr Tironi said the company had submitted a number of proposals aimed at improving this situation during talks over a new collective agreement being held with the GWU. The company believes such changes would give it more flexibility to respond to certain situations and beef up the service in case of an emergency.However, the UĦM official dismissed such a claim saying the improvement in the service had nothing to do with trade union issues.
“This is just a question of bad management and the result of the bad advice given by certain consultants in recent years, who have never been held accountable,” he said.
He noted that the bus service’s major problems stemmed from the fact that a system which had been in place for decades was a few years ago completely ditched when all it required was tweaking.
“If we had to revert to the old route network [before Arriva took over] and re-introduce bus termini in various localities, most of the problems would probably be addressed. This is not to mention the unnecessary changes in route numbers.
“Commuters have not yet come to terms with the new network but would still be able to recall the previous route numbers which had been in place for decades,” the UĦM general secretary said.“The focus of the reform should have been better buses, more etiquette from drivers and better working conditions,” he added.