22/10/2026
Handbrake on urban and intercity buses on November 3: 24-hour strike for contracts and dignity
On November 3, urban and intercity buses across the country will be stopped, as OSME's appeal will be heard on the same day after the collapse of collective bargaining negotiations.
Atwenty-four-hour strike is planned for November 3, 2026 in all KTELs in the country, urban and intercity, as well as in urban transport served by KTELs in Athens and Thessaloniki, as the appeal of the Federation of Transport Unions of Greece (OSME) will be heard on the same day after the collapse of negotiations to reach a collective agreement in the sector.
OSME President Themis Amblas revealed in a press conference yesterday the events that led to the collapse of negotiations through the Mediation and Arbitration Organization (OMED) that began a year ago. The result of the collapse is that an entire sector of 30,000 workers in the 34 urban and 62 intercity bus companies has remained without increases since 2009, while the government is talking about developing and reinstating collective labor agreements.
What makes the wreck even more paradoxical is that the representatives of the KTEL, who increased the work from the undertaking of urban transport in Athens-Thessaloniki and the collapse of the railway after Tempi, are protesting because they cannot find drivers to hire in Greece and for this reason they are looking in India and Egypt. This revelation was made in Parliament during a meeting of the Road Safety Committee (1/1/2026) to which OSME was not invited as a representative of the workers but only the president of the Federation of Intercity KTEL (POAWS), Sof. Fatsios, and the president of Urban KTEL (POAS), Mich. Sakellariou.