On duty for 15 hours

State of emergency: No toilets for bus drivers

Toilet emergency on World Toilet Day: bus drivers protest with an outhouse on Kagraner Platz.(Bild: Reinhard Holl)

15 (!) hours on duty without a pee break because there are no toilets - but now the bus drivers are taking to the barricades. 

Did you know that there is a World Toilet Day? It takes place every year on November 19 and aims to draw attention to the global sanitary problems and challenges associated with going to the toilet. On Wednesday, bus drivers in Vienna showed that these problems are not only found in developing countries.

When I know that I have to wait another six hours before I can go to the toilet next time, I think twice about whether or not I'm going to take another sip of water.

Buslenker und Gewerkschafter Gregor Stöhr

In the middle of Kagraner Platz in Donaustadt, they used an outhouse to draw attention to the still inadequate working conditions in the bus industry. There was support from the vida trade union and the Vienna Chamber of Labor, as well as the climate activists from "Friday For Future". Many drivers still have no access to toilets and running water during their shifts, which often last up to 15 hours.

20-minute break: toilet is 15 minutes away
At Kagraner Platz, the nearest toilet is around 15 minutes away. Too long for a break that lasts 20 minutes. In Aspern, also in the 22nd district towards the edge of the city, the toilet situation is no better. Nothing has changed since the last protest in the summer, complains Gregor Stöhr, bus driver and member of the bus committee of the vida trade union.

Urine bottles as a serious solution
"Some colleagues were actually offered urine bottles by their employers as a serious solution to the toilet crisis," reports Stöhr. "These conditions are simply inhumane," says the "Wir Fahren Gemeinsam" alliance and demands that a sufficient and free social infrastructure (toilets, showers, washrooms, etc.) must finally be created for all professional drivers, at least along the high-ranking road network. The bus drivers want to emphasize their demands in the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations in the bus sector.