Trains don't go to Venice

Hungarian railway workers violated Russian Railways schedule

Russian Railways (RZD) yesterday stopped sending direct carriages from Moscow to Budapest, as well as through Hungarian territory to Zagreb, Belgrade and Venice. In a statement issued by Russian Railways on this occasion, it is said that carriage service has been interrupted until the end of the railway workers' strike in Hungary. Meanwhile, there are reports from Hungary itself that negotiations between the local railway administration and the industry trade union have so far been fruitless, and no one can predict the end date of the strike. Russian Railways is ready to transport passengers who have purchased tickets for canceled flights no further than Chop (a border point on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border). As an alternative, they were offered a refund of the cost of tickets without deduction of commission fees.

Labor conflict in Hungary broke out after the independent railway workers' union (IRU) demanded a 10% salary increase in 2008, as well as a one-time bonus equal to two and a half months' salary. The government of the country and the state administration of the MAV railways are only ready for a 6.9 percent increase in salaries. After the incompatibility of the positions of the parties became obvious to both of them, the NWP held a warning nine-hour strike last Friday, worked the weekend as usual, and began a full-scale strike on Monday. On Tuesday, NWU leader Istvan Gasko said his union, which represents about a quarter of MAV's 36,000 employees, has sufficient funds to compensate strikers for their lost wages for several months.

The strike in Hungary, among other things, disrupted the movement of direct carriages that Russian Railways sends through the territory of this country to Budapest (two per day), Zagreb and Belgrade (four per week), as well as to Venice (one per week). These cars travel to the Ukrainian-Hungarian border as part of Russian trains 15/16 and 21/22, and there they are attached to foreign trains. Yesterday, Russian Railways announced that “due to the lack of information from representatives of the Hungarian railways about the timing of the end of the strike,” the sale of tickets for these carriages has been stopped. Passengers who have already purchased such tickets can get their money back through the ticket office or take a Russian Railways train to Chop, and then solve their problems on their own.

Meanwhile, MAV representatives provide somewhat contradictory information about the scope of the labor conflict. On Tuesday, for example, they estimated that less than 10% of Hungarian railway staff did not show up for work, but as a result the country's rail traffic fell by three-quarters. MAV explains this disproportion by the fact that among the strikers were representatives of key transport professions: ticket takers and safety inspectors. An anonymous source at MAV told France Press that the strike is costing the company 600 million forints (2.3 million euros) daily. These losses, according to MAV, do not bring us closer, but further delay the prospect of reaching an agreement on increasing wages. Some government figures accused the NWP of not actually fighting for the interests of its members, but of escalating the situation ahead of the referendum scheduled for March 9 on the program of economic reforms and government spending cuts developed by the ruling Socialist Party. The referendum was called on the initiative of the right-wing opposition. PNP leader Istvan Gasko publicly rejected accusations that the strike was politically motivated.

Mikhail KUKUSHKIN