Striking employees of Vectalia Béziers Méditerranée disrupt bus exits

The strikers prevented the buses from leaving the depot. Midi Libre – Laurent François

Denouncing, among other things, their working conditions, at the call of the CGT, 91 strikers from the transport company Vectalia Béziers Méditerranée were on strike this Saturday, July 6. For several hours, they "filtered" the exit of buses from the depot, considerably slowing down service.

Horns, whistles, shouts, CGT flags and… filter dam. This Thursday, July 6, from dawn, nearly a hundred employees of the transport company Vectalia Béziers Méditerranée, mostly drivers, found themselves and demonstrated their dissatisfaction in front of their company premises. The strikers, 91 in total, denounced, among other things, their working conditions:"Vehicles don’have no air conditioning, there are degraded toilets and we have just changed directors again, this is the third in six months, regretted Mounir Yousfi, CGT union delegate. From 5:30 a.m., we screened the vehicles and spoke with the drivers. Knowing that management has replaced all the drivers with temporary workers."

"In our business, advances are prohibited"

Arrived on May 16 at the head of the Biterroise company, Thibaut Fournier-Montgieux asked for a little time: "When I was told about the problem with the toilets, the next day, with a labor inspector, we inspected them all. A certain number were not up to standard. This will get back to normal but you have to understand that this cannot be resolved by snapping your fingers! In terms of timing, we realized that in the summer, drivers were ahead of their stops. In our business, advances are prohibited. This is the reason why we have adapted the commercial times (Editor's note: the commercial time is the moment when the bus travels between two stops), knowing that the regulation (adaptation , for example, because of traffic), is made by the driver."

The director: "I will file a complaint"

Strikers complain about the lack of air conditioning in some buses. The director does not deny it:"It is true that some drove without air conditioning, he admits. But we have just changed 60 out of 71 vehicles. As for the temporary workers, yes, we appealed for this day of strike, knowing that we are relying on an “adapted transport plan”, developed with the Agglo. It allows the continuity of public service. The law authorizes us, depending on the number of people we have, to call off-duty drivers who would agree to come to work. We can also call on temporary workers. We found six, the others already working regularly for us."

At the end of the afternoon, the strikers were still on duty, letting the buses leave slowly. A situation not to the liking of the director refusing to negotiate as long as the blockage continues : " Such blocking is illegal and as of Monday, I will file a complaint."

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