BarcelonaAfter six hours of negotiations, there was finally no agreement and Bicing workers will start an indefinite strike this Tuesday. The last mediation meeting between Pedalem Barcelona – the company that manages the service – and the unions has also failed and has not served to reconcile positions. In this way, from this Tuesday morning Bicing will face its first major strike since the service ceased to be operated by Clear Channel and passed into the hands of Pedalem Barcelona. Since it is not considered an essential service, as buses or the subway are, the Department of Labor has not dictated minimum services this time. Thus, the system for picking up and leaving the vehicle will work, but users may find stations full, or, conversely, completely empty.
During the negotiations, the workers – who receive between 19,000 and 20,500 euros per year – had asked that the new agreement for the next five years include a salary improvement of 1,500 euros, in addition to the creation of new bonuses and the recovery of the bonus seniority, as well as an increase in remuneration for working on weekends and holidays. In addition, they had complained that the lack of staff made it impossible to offer a good service, since the workshops do not have the capacity to respond to all the damaged bicycles that arrive.
Despite the strike, users will be able to continue using the shared bike service, although the workers are warning Bicing subscribers that, since the usual logistics routes are not being made, there will be no rotation and empty stations will multiply where bicycles cannot be taken, and also the full ones where it will be impossible to park. Also, since the workshops will also be closed, no bikes will be repaired and there will be many more broken down bikes in operation.
More bikes and stations
The strike comes just three days after the City Council announced that during the coming year Bicing will expand its fleet with 1,000 more electric bikes and 74 new stations, which will leave the service with 8,000 bikes – 5,000 of which are electric – and 593 stations. The announcement was not accompanied by specifics regarding the increase in staff, one of the demands that the unions had put on the negotiation table.
In a statement, the CGT union, the majority in Bicing, advises users of shared bicycles to use “an alternative means” during the days that the protest may last, since the vehicles available may be insufficient, since the staff in vaga will not do the repairs or the redistribution of the bikes.
2023-11-13 21:47:19
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