"Although the 14 trade unions of the Budapest Transport Company (BKV) are no longer on strike since Monday, the collective agreement remains unsigned, because a debate broke out with the non-striking unions in a fashion that outshines even the most side-splitting sketches of the Monty Python troupe, the kings of bizarre humour.While the trade unions - 14 were on strike and 12 were not between Tuesday and Sunday last week - finally made BKV’s management give in to their demands, they started to quarrel with each other at talks lasting from late Sunday to Monday morning, index.hu reported.
The representatives of the 14 unions on strike signed the deal that ended the work stoppage in the capital city.
The remaining 12 unions said that if an agreement is reached on the collective agreement for 2010, they will also sign it. But instead of a happy ending we see the beginning of something completely different: BKV is fun!
We do not think the dispute could get more hilarious than it already is.
The bout started by Attila Gulyás, head of the union leading the non-striking trade unions (VTDSZSZ), saying they had negotiated better terms than what the unions staging the strike have achieved with their 6-day work stoppage.
He reminded that BKV promised them HUF 8,000 monthly luncheon vouchers per person, while the deal brokered by the other unions was only for HUF 6,000. He noted, though that BKV guaranteed the higher sum for no more than three months.
Then Gulyás started to bargain with BKV, calling on the management to play nice and give at least HUF 7,000 in meal tickets a month - which is less what they had originally secured but more than what the unions on strike demanded.
A lengthy debate ensued with BKV finally caving in under the immense pressure.
That triggered uproar from the striking unions. They growled saying that if BKV now miraculously finds the funds to meet that demand, the company has been lying all along about how tight its budget was.
Gábor Nemes, spokesman for the strike committee said they could not be sure that BKV would not tighten the belt elsewhere to conjure up the extra money.
Now, bear with us, it gets better.
The unions on strike rejected to accept the higher sum for monthly LVs and threatened BKV’s management to call off the deal if the company pays more. Then BKV retracted its offer for HUF 7,000 monthly LVs, in response to which the non-striking unions declared they would not sign the collective agreement.
Index.hu’s sources said the whole hassle was about which group of the unions can claim to have brought BKV to its knees. While VTDSZSZ wanted to prove they could have achieved better results even without a strike, the other group was to demonstrate that without the strike they could not have bargained even last year’s wage level.
The representatives of both union groups said they were really exhausted by the time the talks ended at dawn on Monday.
The most important issue has been cleared, though. Under the agreement, the unions accepted that personnel expenditure at BKV cannot exceed HUF 59.9 bn in 2010.
This means, the trade unions acknowledge the financial status BKV is in and accept that the combined cost of wages and other benefits (perks) will be capped at HUF 59.9 bn (which totalled HUF 60.9 bn in 2009). Despite the 1.2% yr/yr cut, the real wage for most BKV employees will rise thanks to favourable changes to personal income tax regulations."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
20.01.2010