Zagreb Tram Strike: Union Threatens to Continue Tomorrow

Zagreb woke up Monday, September 28, without trams or buses. Workers at the Zagreb Electric Tram company (ZET) walked off the job at exactly 3:30 a.m., as announced in advance, and at Zagreb Holding, whose largest subsidiary is Cistoca, the work stoppage began at 5:30 a.m. By 7 a.m. every subsidiary of the Holding had joined in, leaving the Croatian capital without public transit and without regular garbage collection that same morning.

The response to the strike call was, by the unions’ own estimates, nearly total. Earlier polling had shown 78 percent of ZET workers and 75 percent of Zagreb Holding workers in favor of a stoppage, and this morning almost no vehicles left the Remiza depot on their regular routes. According to ZET’s own GPS tracking data, traffic in the strike’s first hours dropped to just 0.6 percent of what the network normally carries at that time.

A handful of vehicles did return to the streets later in the morning, though accounts differ on exactly how many. Index.hr reported that by mid-morning two trams, on routes 17 and 11, plus one bus on route 330, were running. Dnevno.hr, citing a statement from ZET chief executive Marko Bogdanovic given earlier that morning, said only one tram and one bus, on the Glavni Kolodvor to Velika Gorica route, were in service at that point. Both outlets agreed that the funicular was running as normal.

For residents, the situation at Cistoca was somewhat less severe. Although 20 waste trucks had been announced, only 11 vehicles with 33 workers and drivers actually went out, and they collected waste only from priority locations: hospitals, kindergartens, other health facilities, schools and nursing homes. Households saw no collection at all that morning, and recycling yards stayed shut.

Vladimir Jozic, head of the Union of ZET Drivers and Transport Workers, said the strike would continue into tomorrow unless Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic agreed to sit down for talks and met the strikers’ demands.

“Turnout for the strike is very good, and it’s hard to say how long it will last. We want to work, and that’s why we’re calling on the mayor again for talks. This flexing of muscles makes no sense.”

Jozic followed with a direct appeal: “Mr. Mayor, get in touch, we’re ready to talk.” The union also rejected the claim that 2,800 euros is an average driver’s salary. Goran Vucemilovic, head of the ZET Bus and Tram Transport Union, offered his own case as an example: with two children, 26 years on the job, and night and holiday allowances included, his pay came to around 1,790 euros, while the 2,800-euro figure is an exception that comes up once a year at most, for workers with four or more children and heavy overtime.

The employer has so far offered a 4.5 percent increase to base pay. According to details from the negotiations, the unions brought their original demand of 19 percent down to 15 percent, and then to 13 percent, but no deal had been reached by Monday.

Mayor Tomasevic announced that days spent on strike will not be paid, and confirmed that the city filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging the strike’s legality. He scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Stjepan Radic Square, where management from both ZET and Zagreb Holding were also set to appear. Asked how he felt on the strike’s first day, ZET chief executive Marko Bogdanovic gave a brief answer: “Not good. Definitely not good.”

The strike also triggered a round of political sparring. Ivan Matijevic, head of the Zagreb branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), denied claims that his party was behind the ZET and Holding workers’ walkout, calling them baseless insinuations.

As we reported Saturday, the strike had been announced for 3:30 a.m. Last-minute attempts to reach a deal between the unions and management fell through that same day. Whether Zagreb is left without public transit again tomorrow depends, in Jozic’s own words, entirely on whether the mayor responds to the call for talks.