transportation

Torrijos critical of strike

The president says a bus union’s actions are designed to unsettle voters.

Union leaders called the strike to protest the government’s Transmóvil initiative.

Maydée Romero/la prensa

stopped:For the second day in a row many buses were out of service. Union leaders were meeting last night to determine whether to continue their strike. It was called to protest the government’s new transportation plan. 1044297

President Martín Torrijos said yesterday that a transportation strike called by the bus union Movimiento appeared to be motivated by political reasons. The strike has crippled the city for the past two days.

He said that while there are some legitimate concerns about the new transportation system, the organizers of the strike are “taking advantage of the proximity of the upcoming election to try and create anxiety and insecurity in the community.”

Business leaders, meanwhile, were also critical of the action.

“It makes no sense for carriers, who are also entrepreneurs, to shut out their customers,” said José Ramón Varela, president of the Cámara de Comerico, Industrias y Agricultura de Panama, at a press conference. Varela said that many business owners did what they could to be flexible with their employees, and some offered to help with transportation or juggled schedules so they could make it to work.

The operators of the Corredore Norte and Corredore Sur stopped charging tolls for part of the day to try and help people get to and from work. This action was lauded by both business leaders and government officials.

The tolls were suspended at the request of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas (MOP). MOP officials said that the government did not commit to any payments in exchange for suspending the tolls.

Walter Medrano, president of the Cámara Panameña de la Construcción, said that he did not have any statistics about the number of workers who were absent, but said “they have a responsibility to arrive at work.”

Police reported few problems on the second day of the strike.

There was one minor incident at the La Doña shopping center when union members and representatives of a user's association had a verbal altercation, but that was quickly broken up by police.

Movimiento drivers and owners called for a two-day strike to protest the government's new transport plan, Transmóvil. The plan involves replacing the “diablos rojos” with more modern buses and establishing stricter qualifications for drivers and timetables for bus routes.

It is estimated that 50 percent of the population uses buses as a primary means of transportation.

The strike was scheduled to end at midnight this morning, but union leaders were meeting late last night to decide whether to extend it.