The Spanish Union of Railway Drivers (Semaf) has decided to call off the strike at Ouigo that it had announced for this Friday, as well as for the 9th of November and the 4th and 8th of December of this year, according to a statement made this Thursday by Ouigo itself.
As a result of this decision, the railway operator has confirmed on the social network X that "the trains for these four days will run normally, in accordance with the scheduled timetable".
Semaf’s call included 24-hour stoppages on the 30th of October and the 2nd of November, which have already taken place, as well as partial stoppages set for the coming 6th and 9th of November and the 4th and 8th of December 2026, in two time slots: from 06.00 to 12.00 hours and from 18.00 to 23.59 hours.
The union had been denouncing that the drivers face excessively long working days and an abusive use of on-call shifts, without adequate compensation for overtime hours. It also criticized the company for putting obstacles in the way of taking vacations, for forcing extended overnight stays away from home, and for not counting as effective working time the tasks carried out before and after each service.
For its part, Ouigo argued that it fully respects the current collective agreement and the occupational risk prevention regulations, and it reiterated its willingness to continue dialogue about the discrepancies regarding the interpretation of the work collective agreement, signed in 2024.
Semaf meeting with the Minister of Economy
In parallel, representatives of Semaf have met this Thursday afternoon with the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, who temporarily assumes Transport’s responsibilities following Óscar Puente’s resignation.
The meeting, scheduled for 16.00 hours at the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, also included the presence of the president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández, and the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano.
This is the vice president’s first meeting with trade union organizations, which begins with Semaf because this is "one of the relevant actors at these moments", according to explanations provided to Europa Press by sources from the Ministry of Transport.
Since Semaf they had advanced to Europa Press before the meeting that they would attend to listen to the message that Cuerpo would like to convey to them and, at the same time, to set out the reasons for the strike called in Renfe for the days 10 and 12 of November.