Railway workers strike over budget cuts and line closures

For the first time since 2000, the railway trade unions took part in a warning strike in October 2009 over planned railway line closures and budget cuts. At the end of the summer, the government announced a harmonisation of railway and public transport timetables, the closure of less-used secondary railway lines and a reduced budget for the Hungarian State Railways. After several rounds of negotiations, four of the five trade unions and the government reached agreement in November.

The Hungarian government aims to increase the efficiency of the public transport system, to harmonise the railway and long-distance coach timetables, as well as to separate the national long-distance services from regional ones. The plans include the closure of the less-used secondary railway lines in an attempt to save HUF 70 billion (about €260 million as at 6 January 2009) on public transport within three years. Additionally, the government plans to cut the subsidies of the Hungarian State Railways (Magyar Államvasutak, MÁV) by HUF 40 billion (€149 million).

In a meeting with the Minister of Transport, Telecommunication and Energy, Péter Hónig, and the government commissioner in charge of public transport, Károly Antali, the railway trade unions present refused to accept the proposals made by the government and urged for further negotiations.

Unions organise strike action

On 21 September 2009, the five representative railway trade unions of MÁV initiated a collective labour dispute over the government’s plans. The trade unions involved were the Trade Union of Hungarian Railway Workers (Vasutasok Szakszervezete, VSZ), the Free Trade Union of Railway Workers (Vasúti Dolgozók Szabad Szakszervezete, VDSZSZ), the Union of Track Maintenance Workers (Pályavasúti Dolgozók Szakszervezete, PVDSZ), the Hungarian Engine Drivers’ Union (Mozdonyvezetők Szakszervezete, MOSZ) and the Rail Section of the Free Trade Union of Engineers and Technicians (Mérnökök és Technikusok Szabad Szakszervezete, MTSZSZ). They demanded that railway workplaces and the provision of workers’ free tickets be retained.

In October, Mr Hónig confirmed the ministry’s intention to close 33 less-used railway lines totalling 1,000 kilometres of track. The average number of travellers on these lines is 6,400 persons a day. He explained that, while the lines would continue to provide for freight transport, the closure of passenger services would save about HUF 7 billion (€26 million) for MÁV. Meanwhile, the opposition party, the Alliance of Young Democrats–Hungarian Civic Party (Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége–Magyar Polgári Szövetség, FIDESZ-MPSZ), announced that if it wins the national elections in 2010, it will restore passenger transport on these lines.

After the minister’s announcement, the trade unions decided to hold a two-hour warning strike on 26 October. This was the first strike since 2000 with the participation of all of the representative railway trade unions.

Government decisions

In November, the government spokesperson, Domokos Szollár, announced that 27 railway lines would be closed in the following timetable period. On another line, services would be maintained on the weekends to facilitate tourism. He added that the decision was made taking into consideration the recommendations of trade unions. Furthermore, Mr Szollár confirmed that the restructuring of services would not result in layoffs and employees would be reassigned within the MÁV Group. However, the President of VSZ, Dezső Simon, denied the government’s proposition, claiming that trade unions’ proposals in fact had not been taken into account and that the government’s decision is against the public will.

Negotiations and agreements

November saw several rounds of negotiations at the MÁV Group. On 23 November, the employers and four of the five representative railway trade unions concluded five agreements on employment. One agreement was signed by the government and the four companies within the MÁV Group (MÁV Zrt., MÁV-Trakció Zrt., MÁV-Gépészet Zrt. and MÁV-Start Zrt.). Although the trade unions refused to accept the closure of the railway lines, the agreements stipulate that railway lines will not be taken over by the competitor Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurt Railway (Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút, GYSEV) until the end of 2010, as it had been planned before. The MÁV corporate group accepted a ‘no layoffs’ clause in connection with the closure of the railway lines, while the trade unions agreed not to take any strike action before 31 December 2010.

Reactions to agreement

After signing the agreements, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MÁV Zrt., Miklós Andrási, stated that the negotiations had been difficult, but in the end the best solution was found. He commented that four of the trade unions were constructive during the negotiations and tried to reach an agreement. Mr Simon of VSZ highlighted the importance of defining in the agreements the conditions for resuming services on the railway lines. The Vice-President of MOSZ, János Borsik, asserted that employees ended up in a more secure position than before the negotiations.

VDSZSZ refused to sign the agreements. The Vice-President of VDSZSZ, Balázs Bárány, commented that the government made a decision about the closure and unfortunately the other trade unions endorsed it. He stated that the union’s strike committee would make a decision about which steps to take in the future. However, he believes that a further strike seemed unavoidable before the end of 2010. The President of VDSZSZ and the Democratic League of Independent Trade Unions (Független Szakszervezetek Demokratikus Ligája, LIGA), István Gaskó, added that parts of the new agreements were less favourable for workers than previously – for instance, the maximum time acceptable for commuting to jobs offered in the course of internal reallocation has increased.

Máté Komiljovics, Institute for Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences