A court says TMB bus drivers' breaks are illegal

BarcelonaThe Social Court No. 14 of Barcelona has ruled in favor of the CGT union in a lawsuit concerning the rest periods of TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona) workers. The union filed a complaint almost two years ago challenging the shift system of the Catalan capital's public transport company, deeming it "illegal, inhumane, and dangerous for occupational health." The court has now ruled that all workers in the seven groups affected by the case (drivers, information agents, workshop and warehouse staff, among others) are entitled to a minimum weekly rest period of 48 uninterrupted hours. According to the ruling, which ARA has obtained, this amount is calculated as either 36 hours of weekly rest and 12 hours of non-overlapping daily rest; or 84 hours of rest over 14 days. The ruling—dated June 2024 but only recently made public—also emphasizes the requirement of a 12-hour daily rest period between work shifts.

The union denounces that despite the various proposals they have submitted over the past few years, the situation remains unchanged for drivers, while other groups have already been able to adopt different rest schedules. According to the CGT's accusations, the current system can be "especially harsh during peak periods like summer," since some workers "only have four days off in the entire month, an exceptionally detrimental situation caused by the accumulation of weekends worked and a shift model that does not respect minimum rest periods." The union asserts that this overload not only violates the law but is also "a direct risk to road safety and to the physical and mental health of drivers." "No public service can function with exhausted people," the organization warns.

The CGT union also sought compensation for damages for the hours during which these rest periods were not respected, but the judge ultimately denied the claim because the specific damages suffered by each worker were not proven. The judge ruled that the company simply applied the collective bargaining agreement signed with the employee representatives. Therefore, the affected employees will not receive any financial compensation for the violated rest periods, as they themselves chose this arrangement.

Awaiting the TSJC (High Court of Justice of Catalonia) decision

The ruling means that TMB's current system for scheduling its employees' work hours is illegal because it violates the Workers' Statute. In practice, this means the company will have to renegotiate these models to guarantee 48 hours of uninterrupted rest per week and ensure the 12-hour daily rest period between shifts. The CGT union won the case in the first instance, but TMB has appealed the ruling, and now the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) will issue its decision. Sources at TMB told ARA that the ruling is not yet final because they have filed an appeal and the TSJC has not yet issued a decision. They also asserted that the 12-hour rest period between shifts "is already being implemented" and that the other measures "have been under negotiation for months." "Various measures have been put on the table, negotiations are very advanced and will continue within the framework of the negotiation of the new bus agreement that has just begun," the public transport company added.