Increasingly pressured working days, longer time between the possibility of pee breaks and unpaid travel time.
It will become a reality when Nobina takes over bus traffic in southern Stockholm, according to the drivers.
– There is a mood of rebellion among the bus drivers, says Nils Sjöblom, chief safety officer for Kommunal at Nybodadepån.
After one of the largest bus procurements in Sweden, Nobina will take over bus traffic in southern Stockholm at the beginning of next year. When the union began to review how Nobina set up the bus tours, several deteriorations were discovered.
One change concerns the length of time between being able to go to the toilet – a struggle that has been going on for many years.
– We had the pee break strike in 1999, to have the right to visit a toilet. That led to it being regulated in the bus agreement in 2003, says Nils Sjöblom, chief security officer at the Nybodadepån in southern Stockholm.
The agreement states that driving may last a maximum of 2.5 hours without a break, after which the driver must have the opportunity to go to the toilet.
– The spirit was that you would drive for a maximum of two hours, in the worst case you could stretch to 2.5 hours. But then the companies have stretched it out so that 2.5 hours has become more the rule than the exception, says Sjöblom.
“Driving” is interpreted differently
The word “driving” has also been interpreted in different ways, which has worsened the working environment, according to the drivers.
– In driving, you only count the time the driver sits behind the wheel and rolls. All so-called regulation time over three minutes is counted off between runs. If the journey is 2.5 hours, but you have regulation times at the end stop, it can be over three hours without you having the opportunity to go to the bathroom.
The drivers are also unhappy that those who start in the garage but end up somewhere else are not paid for the travel time back and have to pay for the journey themselves. Previously, Keolis paid for the trip and deducted eleven minutes from working time
– Our working days will be enormously stressful, and will lead to a great increase in stress, precisely because the times are so shortened.
According to Nils Sjöholm, the deteriorating working conditions have made the bus driving profession less attractive. The average age is high, between 50-60 years, and it is difficult to recruit younger people and women.
Nobina rejects the criticism
But Nobina doesn’t think you’re doing anything wrong.
– I can’t review how people have previously calculated. But the important thing for us here is that we apply the Swedish collective agreement that applies to the industry and that we follow it to the letter, says Nobina’s press manager, David Erixon to Kommularbetaren.