Stoppages called off as bus company agrees to resume talks

The EMT (Municipal Transport Company) strike committee decided late yesterday afternoon to call off the partial stoppage planned for yesterday. At the same time, the director said that he was going to file a complaint in court over threats, and the company said that they lost 10'600 passengers due to the first stoppages. The strike committee called off the stoppages yesterday after the management agreed to sit down and talk about resuming wage negotiations, union spokesman Antonio Ramos said yesterday. The announcement was made after a meeting which lasted for three hours. The strike committee was due to meet with workers at the bus depot at 5.30am this morning to explain the agreement. The workers were due to stage a demo outside city hall in Plaza Cort today but this, too, has been cancelled. EMT director José Manue Barquero said that the company had lost nearly 10'600 passengers because of the partial stoppages and work to rule. The figure was arrived at by comparing figures for a normal Monday before Easter. Barquero also said that yesterday morning, the police had to evict strikers from the bus depot in the Polígono Son Castelló, because they were stopping drivers from leaving. The stoppage took place between 5.30 and 7.30, when no buses left the depot because of the strike committee's refusal to comply with minimum services laid down by the city council and the ministry of transport.