Nation-wide transport strike expected in Hungary on Nov 27

Four trade union groups of long distance bus company Volán will stage a nation-wide for two-hours between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Tuesday, November 27 to protest changes in the pension system, announced László Horváth, deputy chairman of the Association of Transport Workers' Councils (Közlekedési Munkástanácsok Szövetsége) on Thursday.

The strike was called by the trade union groups Public Road Transport Trade Union (Közúti Közlekedési Szakszervezet) Union of Workers in Bus Transport (Autóbusz Közlekedésben Dolgozók Uniója), Association of Transport Workers' Councils (Közlekedési Munkástanácsok Szövetsége) and Sectoral Association of Liga Transport Trade Unions (Liga Közlekedési Szakszervezetek Ágazati Szövetsége) to protest a pension law which specifies that only drivers of buses which were put into traffic before March 1992 are automatically entitled to early retirement. Bus drivers have been trying to have this law modified for a decade.

Trade unions claim that early retirement should not be dependent on the type of bus, as all drivers use the same roads and experience the same effects.

Answering a question of state news wire MTI, Horváth added that the four trade union groups have proposed an 11% wage hike for next year, but the employers' side thinks a 4.5% raise would be realistic.

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