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European Railway Workers announce symbolic «pré-avis de grève»

17 December 2009

Thousands of railway workers from across Europe are protesting today in the streets of Brussels against European railway policy, its way of implementation and its impact on railway workers. The gathering starts from 11h30 in Blv. Roi Albert II; start of the march around 12h30; speeches around 14h30 in Petit Rue de la Loi.

Railway workers’ representatives from 12 European countries followed the ETF call for a European railway workers demonstration: Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Portugal.

This demonstration is a continuation of the successful European demonstration on 13 November 2008 in Paris. In a symbolic “pré-avis de grève” the ETF announces stronger European wide actions in spring 2010. On the day of the meeting of the Council of Transport Ministers this “pré-avis de grève” is handed over to the Swedish Presidency in the afternoon.

European railway workers have many reasons to complain:

Employment in the railway sector dropped drastically due to liberalisation and restructuring of the sector, a policy that aims to destroy the traditional railway companies;
Working conditions are going downwards also through the creation of subsidiaries, outsourcing and sub-contracting of the traditional rail companies;
The financial and economic crisis is used by the companies as a context for further, more severe restructuring measures. According to an internal CER survey employment dropped in the first three quarters 2009 by -1,6% in EU 15 and -6,1% in EU 12, in the Eastern European rail freight companies employment dropped even by -14,9%. The ETF received reports from its members, which sum up jobs losses in the rail sector in 2009 and in the coming years to around 55.000 in 13 European countries.
In the Communication on the “Future of transport” the Commission announces further and complete liberalisation of the rail sector (now of domestic rail passenger transport); further fragmentation of the companies is planned;
The EU Member States neglected the railways and investments in rail infrastructure for decades; now they refuse to create fair competition among transport modes e.g. via the internalisation of external costs.

ETF Deputy General Secretary Sabine Trier says: “European railway workers do not want to be the victims of such a policy any more. During the days of the Copenhagen climate summit they ask for radical policy change in order to promote the railways as one of the transport modes of the future and to safeguard employment and working conditions in the sector.”

For further information please contact Sabine Trier, ETF Deputy General Secretary, Tel. +32 2 285 46 67, GSM: 0032 477 512 814, e-mail: s.trier@etf-europe.org

ENDS

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