Public bus drivers ended their protest after officials met their demands, reports Reem Leila More than 1,500 public bus drivers ended their 10- day strike on 27 March after reaching an agreement with the government. A delegation comprising bus drivers and representatives of public transportation workers met members of parliament's Transportation Affairs Committee, Minister of Transportation Galal El-Said and Cairo Governor Abdel-Qawi Khalifa. According to the agreement, the bonus for end- of-service was increased to two months for each year in service, whereas workers who have been working for 36 years will receive 72 months worth of bonuses. The rest of their demands are to be implemented after deducting the LE230 million in the form of bonuses, incentives and raises which they took starting from September last year. Striking bus drivers of the Public Transportation Authority (PTA) have been demanding higher wages; to be affiliated to the Ministry of Transportation instead of the Holding Company for Transportation (HCT) which is affiliated to the Cairo governorate; independent trade unions; good quality of spare parts for buses; and proper maintenance of the vehicles. This is in addition to the dismissal of what the drivers said were corrupt officials working for the company and increasing end-of-service bonuses to 100 months of the basic salary. Khalifa told the press that an affiliation of the PTA with the Ministry of Transportation cannot be done. "Throughout the world public transportation is affiliated to municipalities. Why do we want to change the norm?" Khalifa asked. The strike initially began in the Suez Canal cities on 23 February when hundreds of public bus drivers began to protest. It reached its height when drivers stopped driving their buses. In Cairo, a strike started haltingly on 17 March following the death of Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Three days after the pope was buried, the strike began in earnest. The strike forced the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to operate 50 of its buses to transport commuters as a stopgap measure. Since the beginning of the strike at the PTA's 27 garages, more than LE1 million a day were lost. On 21 March, bus drivers went to parliament and the Cabinet in the downtown area to demonstrate against the government's ignoring of their demands. On 25 March drivers announced they will begin a strike until the government meets their demands. Driver Ibrahim Hassan said a driver's salary ranges between LE300 and LE500 a month depending on the number of service years. More than 10 per cent of monthly wages go to pensions and insurance. "We receive an annual raise ranging between LE2 and LE5, whereas if we were to be affiliated to the Ministry of Transportation, we will get a seven per cent annual raise. This will make us equal with our peers in the underground metro and trains. For heaven's sake what will LE5 do for a worker with the cost of everything skyrocketing?" Hassan asked. Driver Ahmed Afifi said PTA board officials are corrupt. "They all belong to the former regime. They do not want to meet our needs, they do not represent us, they should be chosen among us, and they are nothing but corrupt officials who repeatedly prevent attempts to merge with the ministry in order to steal our money," claimed Afifi, who added, "we will strike again if the government breaks its promises." PTA head Mona Mustafa said drivers had been receiving around LE230 million since September in the form of bonuses and incentives, in addition to a raise in their salaries. At the same time Mustafa pointed out that since September the PTA had been negotiating with the Finance Ministry "in order to increase our budget to meet drivers' demands. But the Finance Ministry won't be able to give us any more money due to a general budget deficit. Ministry officials promised to discuss the demands by the beginning of the new fiscal year 2012/2013." The strike forced many middle and lower class people to use micro buses, whose drivers took advantage of the strike by raising transportation fees. Many employees and workers found difficulty in reaching their work on time. Other commuters resorted to the underground metro, thus leading to more crowds especially during morning and afternoon rush hours. Noura Mohamed, a housekeeper said, "bus drivers are torturing us. They have turned our daily life to more than the hell it already is. It takes me three hours instead of one to get to work. Their strike is stopping me and thousands of others from getting to work on time, and we risk losing our job because if this continues I could be dismissed," said Mohamed. On 24 March a 10-members group of the PTA Syndicate presented a list of their demands to Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri and Minister of Transportation El-Said as a final resort after their initial meeting with Cairo Governor Khalifa failed to reach an agreement. Tarek El-Sayed, deputy head of the PTA Syndicate, said the syndicate has been supporting the drivers' legal wants and at the same time was trying to urge them not to strike because the public is being seriously harmed by the lack of public transportation. El-Sayed told Al-Ahram Weekly, "there is no need to continue with the strike since we have reached a reasonable agreement with the government which I hope will soon be implemented." Public bus drivers had demonstrated in September pressing for the same demands. The protests began at the Mazallat garage, then spread to other garages in Imbaba, Al-Mounib, Giza, Nasr City, Al-Basatin, Al-Teraa Mazallat, Al-Amiriya and Gisr Al-Suez.
