Tripartite meeting on bus drivers' hours

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Following a tripartite meeting in January 1998 on bus drivers' working hours in Luxembourg, a working group has been set up to report on the feasibility and impact of a reduction in daily "duty time".

Following the announcement by the Government of a tripartite meeting on bus drivers' working hours (LU9711131N), the social partners met on 22 January 1998 to find a solution to issues raised by the drivers' claim for a reduction in daily "duty time" (amplitude journalière) from 12 hours to 10. This duty time includes all the periods when drivers are at the employer's disposal: driving; waiting for the next journey to begin; making preparations, or taking rest periods in accordance with national and European law.

The Government's role in this case is not confined to arbitration, as it is the main contracting party for the members of the Luxembourg Federation of Bus and Coach Entrepreneurs (Fédération luxembourgeoise des entrepreneurs d'autobus et d'autocars), which are paid to make a major contribution to the Ministry of Transport's public bus service. The Government has said that it is prepared to increase the state subsidy, if this proves necessary, so long as this payment has an effect on both working hours and employment. The employers' representatives have mainly identified financial problems with any reduction in daily hours, and focused on foreign competition where daily duty times can go as high as 15 hours per day.

Following the January meeting, the social partners set up a tripartite working group to report on the technical feasibility and the impact of any reduction of duty times; this will be based on a sample of three representative companies in the sector. The group was due to meet again on 11 March to determine what conclusions may be drawn from the study.