Three months since the STB strike that paralyzed the capital for five days: How many employees are being disciplined and how many have been fired

STB trolleybusPhoto: Facebook

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General Manager Adrian Crit told HotNews.ro that the procedures have not been completed yet.

According to him, after the strike, about 3,000 summonses were sent for disciplinary investigation.

• “As a result of the meeting of the research commissions and the elaboration of the documents, the measure has been taken, so far and I specify that it is not a finalized issue, the termination of the individual employment contract for 222 people and the reduction of the salary for about 490 people. they are between 5 and 10% for a month or 3 months “, explained Adrian Criț.

Asked who was sanctioned with the termination of the employment contract, the director of the company says that mainly the drivers who were absent without reason for more than 3 days, violating the law and the attributions from the job description.

The internal regulations state that, if an employee does not perform the activity for 3 days, without reason, as a result of the disciplinary investigation, his employment contract may be terminated.

• “If we had made this decision, most of the drivers would not have been ours. It was probably a radical decision that would continue to make life difficult for the people of Bucharest.
• The decision to terminate the employment contract was generally taken for those who were absent for 4-5 days “, the STB director also stated.

Drivers who showed that they were not allowed to leave the road received leniency

He says that those who proved that they wanted to come to work, but would not have been left by their colleagues, received leniency.

• “You know that there were drivers who wanted to come to work, but they were not let go, and if they came with evidence in this regard they did not take the maximum sanction.
• There have been a few such situations. Just as the court gives clemency to those who admit the facts and say who is guilty, I thought we should take new measures like this. That’s what the commission said.
• The disciplinary research continues and we will take the necessary measures “, Crit added.

STB hired 180 drivers

In parallel, STB is hiring, with 180 people in the employment process – 80 “manipulators” and trolleybus drivers and 100 bus drivers.

These are job applications submitted immediately after the strike. “We tried to be experienced drivers. In the trams we identified possible future employees of our school”, explained Crit.

Regarding the criminal investigation, the novelty is that one of the files was moved to the General Prosecutor’s Office.

• “There have been several criminal raids, at the Prosecutor’s Office, Police, DNA, I think 4 in total.
• Personally, I went and asked what happened to the criminal complaint that reached the Bucharest Transport Police, I was there, I also gave a statement, I asked what is the status of the case, then the decision was made to be moved to the General Prosecutor’s Office.
• We can only find out what is happening, we cannot get involved, we have provided all the evidence we have been asked for, including those losses that the company has suffered as a result of the illegal strike, over 16.6 million lei , and an expertise will probably follow. The prosecutors have to work and complete the investigation “, the general director of STB also explained.

Damage estimated at 16 million lei

So far, STB has not received from the Bucharest – Ilfov Intercommunity Development Association for Public Transport – Ilfov the invoice with the penalties for the 5 days of the strike, but when it receives it, the STB director says that he will go against the culprits to recover the amount. The estimated damage is 16 million lei.

About the January 20 STB strike

The STB strike began on January 20 and lasted for five days, ending after the STB management announced that it was hiring drivers, and those who do not come to work will be penalized until the termination of the employment contract.

From the first day, the Bucharest Tribunal suspended the strike and ordered the immediate resumption of STB activity, but this did not happen. The general mayor, Nicușor Dan, said that the strike was orchestrated by Vasile Petrariu, the leader of the representative union from STB, at that time and PSD general councilor. Petrariu claimed it was a spontaneous strike.

The main demand was the resignation of the general manager Adrian Criț. Employees also demanded a 10% salary increase and the negotiation of the collective labor agreement.

In 2021, the Bucharest public transport company (STB) had a budget of 1.2 billion lei, of which approximately 928 million lei went to the salaries of about 11,200 employees.

However, the drivers of buses, trolleybuses and trams are a little over 4,500, the rest being auxiliary staff such as mechanics or ticket sellers. A bus driver earns up to 7,800 lei, according to data obtained by HotNews.ro, and a trolleybus driver, up to 8,000 lei. A vatman earns between 2,650 and 7,767 lei. The average is 5,300 lei, and most salaries are between 5,000 and 6,000 lei. Meal vouchers are also added. This data does not include premiums.

HotNews.ro talked to an STB driver on condition of anonymity, and he says that clearly everyone would like to receive more money, but the main problem of employees is related to old public transport, which often have problems technical, the slowness with which defective parts are replaced and poor working conditions.

Immediately after the strike ended, the STB leadership announced that the demonstration had caused a loss of 16.6 million euros. An external assessment would determine the true value of the damage.

After the strike, Petrariu resigned as general counsel and from the party.

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