Bus drivers demonstrate outside the Chamber of Deputies

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Private sector bus drivers demonstrated outside Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies on 14 October 1997 in support of their claim for a cut in duty time. The Minister of Labour and Employment told them that a tripartite meeting would take place in January.

In Luxembourg, private sector bus drivers' working hours are not fixed by law, but by a collective agreement that uses the concept of "duty time" (amplitude journalière). This word includes all the periods of time during which drivers are at their employer's disposal: driving, waiting for the next journey to begin or making preparations, or taking rest periods in accordance with national and European law (particularly EU Regulation 3820/85 on drivers' hours).

Drivers have been calling for a reduction in daily duty time from 12 to 10 hours for many years; it has proved a sticking-point in negotiations over a new collective agreement for the sector. The Government elected in 1994 was aware of the problem and, in a post-election statement announced its intention of introducing legislation on working hours in the transport sector if the social partners failed to reach an agreement themselves.

However, the matter has not yet been resolved and private-sector bus drivers demonstrated outside the Chamber of Deputies during its opening session on 14 October 1997 in support of their claim for a cut in duty time. The Minister of Labour and Employment told the demonstrators that he had decided to call a tripartite meeting for the private bus sector at the end of January 1998, which will try and work towards finding a solution to the problem.