Passenger transporters will not go on strike

  • 2012-06-20

RIGA - The Latvian Passenger Transportation Association (LPTA) has decided not go forward with its threatened strike on July 5, the association's President Peteris Salkazanovs informed members of the press today.

A number of LPTA demands have been met and the rest are to be resolved by August 1. If not, a strike is still possible. LPTA's board will decide what to do then.

"Our companies carry 640,000 passengers daily, therefore a strike would have an impact on many people. This is why we have decided not to walk off right now," Salkazanovs commented.

Transport Minister Aivis Ronis expressed hope this morning that passenger transporters will not go forward with its strike or carry out other forms of protests.

The transport minister hopes that future discussions between the government and passenger transporters will be constructive.

Ronis also admitted that illegal passenger transporters remain a problem, as they take away clients from the legal companies. Saeima has delayed legislation to tackle this problem.

In an interview with LNT’s news program "900 Seconds" this morning, Ronis said that the government has done everything it can to support passenger transporters in restricted budget circumstances.

As reported, Salkazanovs previously threatened that passenger transporters will go on a strike on July 5, if the government does not take the required decisions to compensate their losses.

This year, subsidies to passenger transporters, when compared to 2011, have been reduced by 10 percent or 5 million lats (7.1 million euros). Over the past four years, financing for passenger transporters has reduced from 74.4 million lats in 2008 to 46.5 million lats in 2012.