Bus drivers in Argentina have announced a countrywide strike on May 6, citing a continuing dispute over wages. 

Short and medium distance transport will be affected, so passengers across Argentina will have to seek alternative ways to travel during the 24-hour strike.

The cause of the strike is an ongoing dispute between Argentina’s Automobile and Tram Union (UTA, by its Spanish initials), and the Federation of Automotive Passenger Transporters (FATAP) employers’ association, who decide workers’ pay.

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The meeting between both parties is overseen by the government. However, on March 7, the Labor Secretariat required the parties to return to the negotiating table until a solution was reached. This process is known as the conciliación obligatoria (mandatory settlement), and can last up to 20 days.

The UTA said that “no offer was made” during the mandatory settlement. With the dispute now ongoing and no resolution in sight, the union has chosen to take its grievances to the next level.

In a statement posted to X, they said: “We will not tolerate this prolonged farce, nor will we allow the purchasing power, dignity, and livelihood of more than 60,000 working families who, day after day, guarantee the provision of the service that transports more than 9 million passengers daily with their labor, to continue being put at risk.”

A final meeting on May 5 could determine a last-minute change to the union’s plan to strike, but no further details regarding this have been announced. In the general strike earlier in April, buses were one of the few forms of transport that remained operational.