Alsa brings drivers from Latin America and Morocco due to the lack of professionals

2023-10-20 04:00:32

The Asturian company Alsa, leader in road passenger transport in Spain, has been forced to recruit drivers in Latin America and Morocco due to the lack of professionals in Spain. Jacobo Cosmen, president of Alsa, highlighted this in Barcelona during his participation in the conference “Active employment policies, pillar of the European year of skills”, organized within the events of the Spanish presidency of the EU.

Cosmen presides over a centenary group that moves 530 million people a year, has 6,000 vehicles and employs 16,000 people. “Our clients do not come to our offices and that is why our drivers are our brand ambassadors. Having a smile, safety training and a concern for sustainability makes us different,” said Cosmen.

However, Alsa, like the entire road mobility sector, is not immune to the problems of lack of qualified labor that exist in many branches of activity. Cosmen pointed out that in Europe there are more than a million bus and coach drivers and 10% unfilled positions. “And the most worrying thing is that in five years the needs are going to double because of those million drivers, 40% are over 55 years old and only 3% are under 25 years old,” he explained before highlighting the lack of qualifications. (lack of job seekers with bus licenses and complementary safety training) and the difficulties in attracting female and young talent. For this reason, Cosmen demanded public support for training and explained that, for months, Alsa has been forced to launch driver recruitment campaigns in Latin American countries from Spain “due to the facilities with the language and culture, although in some cases there are no facilities to homologate the card”. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Ministry of Inclusion and Migration, they are also bringing drivers from Morocco “because we operate in that country and we already have selection processes,” said Cosmen, who added that the lack of drivers is a global problem that Alsa has turned into a challenge. “When we started operating in Lisbon we had to bring drivers from Cape Verde,” she explained.

Cosmen shared a discussion table with María Jesús Almazor, CEO of Telefónica Tech, who highlighted that all companies in the ICT sector “compete for a very limited supply of digital talent”, and with Klemens Haselsteiner, CEO of the construction giant Strabag. The day was opened by the European Commissioner for Employment, Nicolas Schmit, who highlighted “the many advances” in the Spanish labor market despite the unemployment rates; and the second vice president and acting Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who announced that she will take a legislative proposal to the European Commission so that on-the-job training becomes “a right” of citizens. “It doesn’t just have to do with youth and people are in a dramatic situation of unemployment,” she said.