Bydgoszcz residents left without public transport amid protest
PR dla Zagranicy
Alicja Baczyńska
01.12.2015 17:11
Tuesday morning saw public transport come to a standstill in the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz in protest against the local Municipal Transport Company’s (MZK) new chief.
Photo: Flickr/Dariusz Sieczkowski
No buses or trams left the depots in the early hours of the day, a day after city officials failed to turn up for talks requested by trade unions.
Andrzej Arendt, head of the Trade Union of the City Transport Workers, the largest trade union at MZK, says the company’s staff had informed the city mayor about their demands, the most urgent of which was the dismissal of chief executive Łukasz Niedźwiedzki.
In response to the strike, the city authorities met with the protesters on Tuesday afternoon, following which they relented to the demands by discharging the former deputy mayor of Bydgoszcz from the post at MZK.
The key grievances leveled against Niedźwiedzki include the planned split of MZK into smaller companies and lowering rates paid per kilometer of travel for the personnel.
Andrzej Arendt, meanwhile, announced the drivers would not resume work on the following day unless former MZK CEO Paweł Czyrny was reappointed to the post. (aba/rk)
Source: IAR, Bydgoszcz24.pl