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A 24-hour strike on Monday this week led to long delays, cancellations and huge crowds of commuters and travellers on the platforms of the most heavily-frequented underground stations, and further industrial action will disrupt the trams for the rest of the week.
As the labour dispute is region-wide, even the rail route between Alicante city and the coastal town of Calpe, about an hour north, will be affected, according to staff representatives.
The strikes have been called by the unions SIF, SCF, the Labourers' Commissions (CCOO) and General Workers' Union (UGT) and are aimed at causing maximum upheaval during the Christmas and New Year period.
Unless anything changes, residents planning on travelling out of or within the region by rail, or expecting to catch flights from Valencia airport to join family or friends for the festive season should keep a close eye on transport service bulletins.
Issued cited by unions include working conditions, training, health checks, disciplinary procedures, regulation, and other matters that staff representatives believe affect security for workers and passengers alike and create a negative impact on the quality of service provided.
The regional rail board, FGV, has refused to negotiate any of the issues raised unless the unions call off the strikes.
Managing director Juan Andrés Sánchez Jordán says the industrial action will mean 'considerable inconvenience to travellers, commuters, their employers, students, and customers of Valencia's firms' and will 'cause more damage to those affected than those taking part'.
“You cannot use public transport customers as a bargaining chip in negotiating working conditions,” says Sánchez Jordán.
“The stubbornness that the unions have shown is very disappointing, since despite having reached agreements on the majority of points that have motivated the strikes, they still refuse to call them off.”
Planned industrial action for the week ahead will see staff downing tools between 13.30 and 15.30 on Tuesday, November 14 and Thursday, November 16, and on Sunday, November 19 from 07.00 to 09.00 and 13.00 to 15.00.
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