By Jorge Martin - Friday, 18 April 2008

The struggle of the Barcelona bus drivers started on November 21, 2007 with a 5-hour strike. The main demand of the workers was to have two days rest a week. Currently, the drivers work six days a week, with a total of 251 days a year, when most other workers work an average of 228 days a year. They further demanded that this extra day of rest a week should be introduced with no loss of pay and no increase in the working time during the rest of the week.

The origins of the struggle can be found in the signing of the previous collective bargaining agreement on the part of the main unions, UGT, CCOO and SIT, despite the fact that the drivers had rejected it in a ballot.

As the workers explained, having only one day of rest a week has had a serious impact on the family life of the workers, particularly in such a stressful job as driving a bus for more than seven hours a day in a big city like Barcelona. Furthermore, because of the way the rosters are organised, a driver could be away from home for more than 11 hours a day, having worked two shifts and started and finished work in four different points of the city.