Brussels, 13/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - Demonstrations by railway workers took place in several European countries on Tuesday 13 April to mark the day of action called by the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) to protest against liberalisation of the rail sector in Europe. Two separate demonstrations were held in Lille, where AFP reports that, at the start of the morning, 80 people who had answered the call by the ETF and the French Unions (CGT and CFDT) gathered in front of the Lille Europe international station. A second demonstration took place in the late morning, with around 200 people from the United Kingdom, Greece and Portugal, in response to the call by the Sud Rail federation and the UK RMT union.
“(European rail) policy focuses on competition and the destruction of integrated railways,” said ETF Secretary General Sabine Trier on 11 April in the press release announcing the day of action. She said later that ETF was calling for “integrated (that is, with no separation of infrastructure managers and operators), affordable and safe” public rail services. “With (European) policy focused more on opening up to competition and interoperability, rail safety might be overlooked,” she told EUROPE later. The ETF is fearful that the rail policies being pursued by the European Commission, which intends to bring forward a communication on the liberalisation of national rail services by the end of the year, could lead to the break-up of traditional rail companies, a lessening of the quality of public services and further deterioration of the sector's working conditions. Trier says that, in most EU member states, there is increasing pressure on railway workers. As a result of the financial crisis and the reallocation of funding to the restructuring plans which followed, 55,000 jobs in 10 of the Federation's member states will disappear, she added. Trade unions from 12 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Italy, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey) took part in the day of action. An ETF delegation, with union representatives from Belgium, France and the UK had meetings at the European Rail Agency. (A.By./transl.rt)