Chile: Public transport system at crisis in the capital

teleSUR English

Transport workers in Santiago, Chile are threatening to strike this week over poor working conditions and inadequate wages, a move that could paralyze much of the city's public transit system. Employees of the RBU company have issued the ultimatum after failed negotiations with management regarding their demands for improved labor conditions. The potential work stoppage comes as Chile's capital already faces significant transportation challenges. Union representatives report that years of stagnant wages and deteriorating work environments have pushed workers to take this drastic action.  #Chile #TransporteParaElPueblo #SantiagoEnCrisis #WorkersStrike #teleSUREnglish

Transcript

00:00And in Chile, workers of the public transport system denounced bad conditions and miserable wages

00:05and threatened a strike that could paralyze part of the public transport system in Santiago de Chile this week

00:10if no agreement is reached with the RBU company.

00:18It's four o'clock in the morning. A hard day begins.

00:21And it is not one, it will be two, because the salary is simply not enough.

00:25It's 16 hours a day working. Many workers do 12 hours, and then go to another job, and continue doing hours.

00:35There are workers who come in at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock a.m., and work until 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

00:41They eat quickly, go to other company and work until 11 p.m.

00:44Do you think we will be able to provide a good service that way?

00:50Difficult, and not only for them, but also for the thousands of users.

00:55of public transportation, which in the country, of course, is also private.

01:01Here they get their money from the state. That's why we workers and passengers don't have to fight.

01:06We are passengers, too. We also take the bus.

01:09So excuse me, but we also do all this to provide a good service.

01:15They are the workers of the Alliance Lafford Union, which brings together urban bus workers

01:22from the Rabu Santiago Company's mobility network, with close to 4,000 workers.

01:29Like this one, different companies win state tenders, and although they are different,

01:33they say, the conditions of the workers are all similar.

01:35The Ministry of Transportation endorsed that the company pays us unworthy salaries,

01:44that we have unworthy conditions, where workers have died en route.

01:50The days are exhausting, only 30 minutes for lunch,

01:53and as long as the trip has reached one of the terminals, where there is not always a bathroom.

01:57Most of the drivers end up getting sick.

02:05They have to walk around with a wimple.

02:07With a change of clothes, they have improved with the little handkerchief that the women put on.

02:11Of course, there are illnesses.

02:12If the strike goes ahead, eight districts of the Chilean capital will see transportation paralyzed

02:22on routes that connect Santiago from one end to the other, such as Parajul, near the airport,

02:26with Vitacura, in the eastern zone.

02:30Voting for the strike means that we have five more days to negotiate with the company,

02:34and we want to take advantage of those five days too.

02:37We want the company to make an offer that it has to make, which is obligatory,

02:40so let's not be afraid and let's vote for the strike.

02:44But the call has not been easy.

02:48To the poor conditions, they accuse persecution.

02:51The company agreed to negotiate before the possible strike,

02:54which the union will vote on electronically, exercising a valid right, they insist.

03:01Today the company has us with minimum wages, with unworthy wages.

03:05That is why we are fighting for fair wages, for fair conditions,

03:09for working hours, in which we can share with our family.

03:12Today the company is denying that right.

03:17A bidding and business model that has been debated for decades in Chile.

03:22Can transportation be called public when it is actually private?

03:25In reality, it's private.

03:28Carolina Sandoval and Paola Dragnic, Telesur, Chile.

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