The European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) is concerned about the direction of reflection at the European Commission about review of working and resting time for lorry drivers and application of the directive on seconded (posted) transport workers, and thus sounded the alarm at a press conference at its premises in Brussels on Thursday 30 March.
Discontent is growing among transport trade unions. Roberto Parrillo, head of the road transport section of ETF, was the first to open fire at the press conference, saying he was disappointed that Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc had not taken up any of the proposals made by the ETF, despite their meeting at the end of January (see EUROPE 11713).
The various members of the ETF present said the measures the European Commission is considering would "legalise what is illegal" and would have a negative impact on the working conditions of around 2,800,000 drivers, but also on citizen safety. The different members say that action must therefore be taken before the European Commission’s proposal is on the co-legislators’ table, which is due to happen on 31 May 2017. A member said that after the unveiling, it would be very difficult to get the proposal amended.
Rest time slashed. What do the trade unions accuse the European Commission of? In terms of revision of the regulation harmonising various measures in welfare legislation in the road transport domain (Regulation 561/2006), the Commission is said to be considering a number of scenarios that would cut the weekly rest time, considerations discussed by EUROPE (see EUROPE 11732).
Basically, the Commission is considering making it possible for weekly rest time to be cut by 24 hours (from the current 45 hours) over three consecutive weeks, which would automatically lead to an increase in driving time and legalise nights spent in vehicles over longer periods, such as in the road freight sector, explains the ETF. Under current legislation, drivers must have 45 hours of rest a week, but it is possible to reduce the first rest weekend to 24 hours in order to provide greater flexibility for the transport of tourists. In this case, however, the 21 remaining hours must be recovered at the end of the of the third week. It is these 21 hours that would be ‘lost’ so to speak for drivers under the European Commission’s proposal.
Making greater use of freelance drivers. Another source of concern for the trade unions is the fact that the Commission is considering reviewing the directive on road transport working time (Directive 2002/15/EC). The Commission wants to withdraw freelance drivers from the directive (in other words around 600,000 drivers). This would amount to arranging new and large-scale social dumping, say the trade unions, pointing out that around half of freelance drivers at present are in reality 'false freelancers'.
Exemption for posted workers. Finally, as indicated by EUROPE (see EUROPE 11710), the Commission seems to be considering removing posted road transport workers from Directive 96/71/EC for five, seven or nine days. At the moment, the directive applies from the first day. Such a measure would allow a Bulgarian transporter to operate in another member state and pay drivers the much lower Bulgarian wages. This would be a disaster for the sector, particularly among Western Europe member states, explain the trade unions. To give an example, the annual pre-tax wage of a Bulgarian lorry driver in 2016 was €3,636 compared with €39,702 for a driver from Luxembourg, according to figures from the Comité National Routier, the French monitoring centre for goods transport by road.
Smart tachographs. The trade unions are also critical of the desire to force drivers to use smart tachographs for vehicles in circulation in 2034. They say the transition period is far too long and should be brought forward to 2021, as EUROPE has already explained (see EUROPE 11719).
Parrillo told EUROPE that the time for replacing lorries is too short and for good reason. He explained that lorries with the Euro 3 set up are much more expensive than Euro 6 lorries because the tachograph is manual and can therefore be fraudulently adjusted.
A demonstration of lorry drivers is being organised at the European Commission on 26 April 2017, at the same time as the College of Commissioners is due to discuss the road transport package. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)