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ETF Road Transport Section decides to continue the campaign on working time for drivers

2 February 2010

At its section meeting, Paris, 26 - 27 January 2010, the ETF Road Transport Section – once again – denounced the European Commission proposal (October 2008) for the revision of the Working Time Directive for mobile personnel in road transport (Directive 2002/15/EC).

The Section unanimously agreed to once again fight for the rejection – in the European Parliament - of this proposal.

“No commercial driver – whether employed or independent – should work 84-86 hours per week!” is the message to be re-launched by the Section during its upcoming actions.

To bring its position to the attention of the public and the EU Institutions, the Section decided to organise a European truck-convoy. Within several days, the convoy will cross European countries and end its journey in Brussels. The convoy will be the coping-stone of a campaign stretched out over the period February – March 2010, aiming to raise public awareness on the impact of drivers’ fatigue on road safety. The campaign will also include national public days of action to cover, amongst others, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, France and the UK.

The ETF believes that – to safeguard the road safety, the health and safety of professional drivers and the fair competition in the road sector - a revised working time directive:

• must keep the non-discriminatory application of working time rules to all professional drivers, with a different regime for registration, monitoring and control of working time activities for self-employed drivers;
• must include targets for the frequency of checks and controls of working time;
• must include special provisions to address and eliminate the phenomenon of false self-employment in road sector.

You are welcome to visit the ETF website for updates on the progress of this campaign.

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