Wage plus and better working conditions: bus drivers celebrate success!

Wage plus and better working conditions: bus drivers celebrate success!

On Wednesday evening, the collective agreement negotiations for the approximately 12,000 employees in private bus companies such as Postbus, Sabtours and Dr. Richard achieved a crucial breakthrough. After five intensive rounds of negotiations and a nationwide warning strike, the Vida union and employers agreed on a salary plus of 3.6 percent, retrospectively from January 1, 2025. This was reported by Krone from January 1, 2026 the average inflation and a real wage increase are increased again.

In addition, the diets in line traffic are significantly higher for the second year and in casual traffic there is even an increase of 14 percent for two years. The union also emphasizes improvements in working conditions, in particular an expansion of the night work surcharge from 10 p.m. to midnight, the previous one was only from midnight to 5 a.m. According to Kleine Zeitung , the attractiveness of the profession for new bus drivers and bus drivers should increase.

The overall package must now be approved by the union members, with a clear recommendation to be made to accept the offer. "The strike of the employees and the perseverance have not missed their effects," emphasized Markus Petritsch, the chairman of the Strasse department at Vida. The negotiations and the conclusion achieved could finally bring the necessary upswing in bus traffic.