Photo: FoNet/Ana PaunkovićThe GSP trade unions have announced a protest, but also more radical steps, if the city administration does not fulfill their demands. One by one, bus lines are being taken over by private owners, and during that time, burning buses, broken doors and wheels falling off have become a daily occurrence in Belgrade.
The trade unions "Pravda", "Sloga" and "Centar" of the Belgrade City Transport Company have announced a protest for May 21 from 14.30:27 p.m. in front of the Secretariat for Public Transport in XNUMX Marta Street, because their demands have not been met, it was announced today.
"Even after three weeks of requests officially sent to Acting Secretary for Public Transport Radovan Kremić and the President of the Temporary Authority of the City of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, the trade unions have not received answers, nor an invitation to a meeting with representatives of the Belgrade administration," the union's joint press release states.
They claim that they requested a meeting with the Acting Interim Authority of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapič, and the Secretary for Urban Transport, in order to propose specific objections to the current public-private partnership projects, which will deprive GSP of 27 lines that run in New Belgrade and Zemun.
GSP driver Zoran Stefanović explains to Vreme what the union's demands are.
Justification for subtracting lines
"First of all, we are asking for the immediate suspension of the public-private partnership, which would deprive GSP of numerous lines that would be privately owned. These are all the lines of the 100 and 700 moves. In order to examine the justification of taking away these lines, we also require an expert analysis by the Faculty of Traffic", says Stefanović.
They are also asking for the adoption of a sustainable plan for the procurement of GSP Belgrade vehicles, in order to know how many new vehicles they can count on years in advance and "a guarantee that no GSP plant will be closed due to a reduction in the volume of work and the transfer of the same jobs to a private carrier".
"We are looking for a procurement plan for a period that will not exceed one year. We are also looking for the purchase of vehicles of the highest quality, which meet environmental standards. These are, above all, methane and hydrogen-powered buses, as well as top-class trolleybuses," explains Stefanović.
Šapić: "Trade unions deal with politics"
Stefanović concludes that the bad state of city transport must be responded to, because it is in the interest of the citizens of Belgrade, as well as all employees of PUK GSP Belgrade.
Despite this, during the visit to the Temporary Branch of the City of Belgrade, the union representatives did not get the opportunity to express their demands. Aleksandar Šapić cut them off by remarking that they were engaged in politics.
The trade unions announced that after the start of the protest, there will be a blockade of the intersection of Ulica Starine Novaka and Kraljica Marije.
"It is the first in a series of steps that will follow if there is still no reaction from the administration of the city of Belgrade, and each subsequent step will inevitably be more radical and will affect all citizens of Belgrade, bearing in mind the seriousness of the situation," said the unions.
The collapse of GSP
GSP has been operating at a loss for years, but that loss has significantly decreased in the last year.
The net loss of GSP in 2022 amounted to about 4,9 billion dinars, while in 2023 this loss is significantly smaller and amounts to slightly less than 880 million dinars, according to data published on the website of the Agency for Economic Registers (APR).
Although the company performed significantly better last year, it was announced at that time that part of the lines would be handed over to private companies, which the trade unionists consider a bad move, as it will bring big losses for the City of Belgrade.
"We have estimated that, if private individuals want to continue working with us, they must invest more funds and we will require them to buy new buses, because why should only we (the City of Belgrade) buy new ones," Šapić said earlier. .
However, GSP is a company founded by the City of Belgrade.
"It cannot be normal that you are pushing a company that you founded into ruin, and that you are going to pay a private company to do the same work for you," said the president of the "Centar" trade union Ivan Baković for ,"Today".
Fires, falling parts and other charms of GSP
Various incidents and accidents, which are happening more and more often and are no longer a big news, speak of the bad state of Belgrade's transportation. When they get on the bus, citizens do not know what awaits them.
Everything culminated in March, when a tragedy occurred in which one person lost his life.
A serious traffic accident occurred near Karađorđe Park, when a wheel fell off the bus line 78 and hit two women. One of them died a few days later.
The city administration was silent at the time, and the mechanic who was checking the correctness of the bus was later detained.
The best reflection of the state of city traffic is the famous "haunted line" 511, which runs from Belgrade on the water to Sremčica.
The bus either catches fire, breaks down, and in some cases, according to citizens' statements, it doesn't even follow the route it is supposed to take. Over the past couple of months, this bus has caught fire several times.
It happened, on this same line, that during the entire journey, the passengers were "flabbergasted" because the doors were broken and could not be closed.
Due to poor technical conditions, the inhabitants of Sremčica have organized on several occasions protests. However, the saga with the 511 line was not over then, and no one responded to their demands.
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