TMB Bus Workers Get 35 and a Half Hour Week, 166 New Drivers
Barcelona's TMB bus staff will work 35 and a half hours a week under a new three-year union deal. What changes for drivers, hiring and buses.
Barcelona’s city bus company and its works council have signed a new collective agreement that cuts the working week for bus staff to 35 and a half hours. The deal follows several days of strikes and labor disputes on the network, Metrópoli Abierta reported on Friday.
The company is Transports de Barcelona, the bus arm of TMB (Barcelona’s public bus and metro operator). Management sources said the shorter week adds up to about 10 more days off per year for each worker.
Five of six unions back the agreement
The unions had asked for a 35-hour week, so the final figure meets almost all of their demand. Five of the six groups on the staff committee supported the deal: CCOO, CGT, UGT, SIT and ACTUB. The agreement covers three years, from 2026 to 2029.
Both sides also agreed on a shared target. They want to bring absenteeism down by three percentage points and save enough money to eventually move to the 35-hour week the unions first sought.
About 200 hires, including 166 new bus drivers
The agreement includes hiring about 200 people. Of those, 166 will be new bus drivers. The aim is to spread the workload so that the current staff carry less of the service.
The leave policy for bus workers will move closer to the rules that metro staff already have. Pay will rise in line with the Presupuestos Generales del Estado (Spain’s national budget), following the state rule for public sector wages.
Changes TMB asked for in return
Management won a set of organizational and operational changes. One allows a single bus line to run from more than one depot, so service can start from both ends of the route.
According to TMB, this will mean fewer shuttle buses moving drivers between depots. It will also cut the kilometers buses drive without passengers.
What it means for bus riders and staff
For people who ride TMB buses, a signed agreement closes the labor dispute behind the recent strike days. The extra drivers and the option to start lines from either end are changes the company says will make daily operations more efficient.
For staff, the shorter week, the roughly 10 extra days off and the leave rules matched to the metro are the main gains. Whether the week drops further to 35 hours depends on the absenteeism and savings goals both sides set in the deal.
Source: Metrópoli Abierta
