VIDEO Ciprian Ciucu, message from the bus to STB employees. What does he say about the pay cut rumors?
The general mayor of the capital, Ciprian Ciucu, announced on Thursday morning, in a live broadcast on Facebook from the bus, that the financial situation of STB is “extremely bad”, but he assured that the efforts to make STB's activity more efficient will not lead to layoffs.
“I want to make an announcement (…) I know that since yesterday rumors started circulating in STB, maintained by some, that Ciucu is also making dreges, Ciucu wants to cut. It is not true. The truth is that STB's financial situation is extremely, extremely bad”, Ciprian Ciucu said.
“There will be no fired drivers. There will be no fired watermen. Their salaries will not be reduced, because they are needed the most and they have all my respect for the work they do every day. They should trust less in some who have been there for 15-20 years and who have changed mayor after mayor. This time they have a mayor who will come and talk to them,” Ciucu added.
The General Edil mentioned that STB's situation ended up being “so bad” because of some “wrong” management decisions that accumulated over time. PMB's payments to STB “are not budget-supportable” at this moment, the mayor said.
“My thoughts at this moment are especially with the working people, the drivers, the vatmani, the URAC workers. They stayed with the same salaries for years and years, while the management continued to hire TESA staff. The staffing scheme at STB was inflated so much – not by me, I now came as mayor – that there was no longer any possibility to increase the salaries for drivers, vatmani”, Ciprian Ciucu added.
The Mayor General further said that he has spoken to drivers and vatmani who are complaining about their problems.
“At the moment, at STB, I talked to drivers and drivers, and people tell me their problems: we don't have diesel, we don't have spare parts, we cannibalize all the other buses, so that we can get them a route. 30% of Otokar buses are sitting in depots, because we can't take them out on the street, because they are of very poor quality. People tell me all this. There have been no salary increases for drivers and drivers for a very long time. But other contracts were made”, the general mayor also stated.
Ciucu's proposals for STB, rejected
Ciprian Ciucu announced, on Tuesday evening, that he requested from STB and the Intercommunity Development Association for Public Transport Bucharest (ADITPBI) a “viable” plan to avoid the insolvency of the transport company. Rumors later surfaced that he was asking for pay cuts.
The municipal councilors rejected, on Thursday, January 29, the project regarding the price increase for trips with STB. According to the initiative, the price of the ticket for the trip was to increase by 66%, while the 24-hour pass was to suffer a 75% increase.
