Despite the war, the Superbus workers' committee announced a strike this Wednesday and next Monday. In Afula and the surrounding area, Haifa and Jerusalem.
The strike was announced by the Union of Transportation Committees for Workers, and it is preparing as mentioned for Wednesday (6/12/23) between the hours of 10:00-12:00 and on Monday (11/12/23) between the hours of 10:00-13:00 . Among the cities where they are located: the Metro lines in Haifa, Afula, Tiberias, Yokneam, Migdal HaEmek, Beit She'an, intercity lines from these cities to Haifa and about a third of the urban lines in Jerusalem (Gilo, Har Homa, Armon HaNaziv, Ramot).
The company's employees are protesting the management's policy of punishing drivers by changing their regular work arrangements, including employees returning from sick leave, and drivers returning to work after fearing for their safety in the first two weeks of the war. As a reminder, according to the transport union for workers survey, 60% of drivers were afraid to come to work in the first two weeks of the war.
Haron Shubash, chairman of the workers' committee at Superbus: "Unreasonable pressure is put on the drivers to accept every task, even if it affects medical treatments, family visitation arrangements, etc. Drivers know, did you have to take sick leave? - You will be punished in hours. This atmosphere of threats is especially severe during wartime. Why should sick drivers be punished? This serious move goes against the collective agreement (signed in 2018) and it's time to put an end to it."
The union is also protesting the company's refusal to update wages in accordance with the Ministry of Transportation's guidelines since June 2023 and the failure of negotiations for the collective agreement.
Superbus: the Superbus workers' committee takes a wild and irresponsible step
The Superbus company responded: "In response to the notice of the workers' committee, it is unthinkable that during a war a workers' organization would take the decision to stop essential services that serve hundreds of thousands of passengers. The workers' committee is the only workers' organization in the transportation industry that strangely chose to declare a labor dispute despite the difficult conditions in operating public transportation these days.
According to them, "It should be noted that since the beginning of the year, the wages of the drivers in the company have been raised by about 17%, and in addition, many discussions have been held in order to expand and improve the conditions of the workers. Despite all of this, the workers' committee chose to take a wild, unbridled and irresponsible step that harms the general public.
"Shutting down lines during wartime is a cynical move, at the expense of the workers and hundreds of thousands of passengers, and inflicts severe and disproportionate damage on the entire economy. The company is ready to conduct negotiations at any time and in good faith and calls on the workers' committee to return to the negotiation table for the benefit of the employees and passengers. We are sorry that the committee once again chooses to promote itself at the expense of the company's employees and the entire public."
