New agreements on pay and working time for bus drivers

In March 1999, the parties to Sweden's bus drivers' dispute accepted a mediators' proposal. It contained the draft of a new agreement on pay and working time, with proposals for resolving the problem of rest breaks.

For just over a fortnight in February-March 1999, around 16,000 Swedish bus drivers took strike action over pay and rest breaks (SE9902144N). The Municipal Workers' Union (Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet, Kommunal) had complained that working schedules were becoming increasingly difficult to meet and that drivers did not even have time to go to the lavatory, and negotiations over a new collective agreement between the Bus and Coach Employers' Association (Bussarbetsgivarna, BUA) and the trade union broke down on 25 February. The bus drivers' strike, which immediately followed the breakdown in negotiations, led to a complete stoppage of private bus operations throughout Sweden. Two mediators negotiated with the parties and on 9 March they produced a new proposal to the Kommunal and BUA to end the dispute. Both parties announced that the proposal was acceptable.

The agreement between BUA and Kommunal provides that:

• pay for full-time employees will increase by SEK 400 per month from 1 April 1999 and by SEK 450 from 1 April 2000, according to Kommunal estimates. Taking into account other supplements, the total increase over two years will be 6.15%; and

• new working time schedules will be specified in local collective agreements. These agreements will enable drivers to take short breaks in addition to regular breaks.

If employers and unions at local level are unable to agree on working time schedules, there are special reference rules. For bus drivers in regular traffic, if the route is no longer than 50 kilometres, short work breaks of six to 11 minutes can be taken after two hours' work. After three to three-and-a-half hours of driving, a short rest break of eight to 15 minutes can be taken. The agreement is applicable from 1 January 1999 to 31 May 2001.

On 14 March 1999, an almost identical agreement was concluded between Kommunförbundet and Kommunal for the 3,000 bus drivers employed by local municipalities. These drivers had given notice of their intention to strike, but this was called off after the new agreement was signed.