Part of the staff of the State of Geneva and the Transports publics genevois (TPG) are on strike on Wednesday. The strikers are demanding full indexation of their wages. The claim relates to 2022 to the TPG and to 2023 to the State.
At the TPG, pickets were set up in front of the three main vehicle depots of the authority (Bachet, Jonction, En Chardon) as well as in front of the company’s premises in Vernier (GE). The movement brought together around 400 people at the various sites on Wednesday morning, notes the Transport Staff Union (SEV).
A few trams and buses run downtown. According to TPG management, 200 vehicles were in service on the network around 9:30 a.m. If the regional offer and the cross-border offer are ensured, the same is not true of the offer on the urban lines. This is very small, notes the company.
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The SEV and transfair unions, which organize the protest movement, could not say, Wednesday morning, the proportion of strikers at the TPG. Technically, we are close to 90% and some administrative staff have also walked out, just specifies Aurélie Lelong, union secretary at SEV.
Indexation of wages in question
In total, the TPGs employ around 2,200 people, including administrative staff, underlines Aurélie Lelong.
The question of wage indexation for 2022 was the detonator of the social conflict at the TPG. The strikers are demanding full indexation of 1.2% since January, while the company’s management has been offering 0.6% salary adjustment since September and a single bonus of 400 francs.
This commitment represents 1.6 million francs not provided for in the company’s budget, underlines François Mutter, spokesman for the TPG. The latter adds that since 1999, the increase in wages which is applied to the TPG is greater than the evolution of the Geneva consumer price index.
“Staff are fighting for their purchasing power,” says Aurélie Lelong. An indexation of 1.2% of salaries in 2022 would represent an expenditure of 3.2 million francs for the TPGs. A renewal of the strike will be discussed if no common ground is found with the management, notes the trade unionist.
>> Read: Geneva civil servants’ strike confirmed for October 12
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