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Professional drivers gain victory in European Parliament

28 April 2010

On Wednesday 28 April 2010, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament (EP) voted at 11h00 against the proposal of the European Commission to introduce an 86-hour working week for the self-employed professional drivers. After a journey of six days through six European countries, the lorry convoy, organised by the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), arrived at 9h00 at the European district in Brussels to urge the members of the EP to vote in favour of the rejection. The ETF calls its 18-month campaign a success for all European citizens and professional drivers with the rejection by 30 against 19 votes.

If the EP had adopted the revised European directive on working time for professional drivers (Directive 2002/15/EC) it would have increased the working time for self-employed drivers from 48 to 86 hours per week. “The European Parliament voted in favour of safer roads for all European citizens and better jobs for the professional drivers,” the ETF General Secretary, Eduardo Chagas said. “The European Parliament plenary vote is envisaged for early June 2010 and the ETF will now continue its activities to ensure today’s vote will be confirmed.”

European trade unions join forces in lorry convoy

The General Secretaries of the ETF, ITF and the ETUC together with several MEPs gave speeches in front of the European Commission’s building. Between 10h00 and 11h00, 15 lorries and busses drove around the European quarter. Trade union activists from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the Netherlands joined the convoy to stress the overall impact of the European Commission’s proposal. “The positive outcome of this campaign shows the importance of fighting together on European level for work quality, health and safety and decent jobs for European workers,” Eduardo Chagas continues.

The lorry convoy is the coping-stone of an 18-month ETF campaign for safer roads for the European citizens and better jobs for the professional drivers. “Thanks to the active participation of the ETF affiliates during the last year and a half, we succeeded in our objectives and gained a positive outcome for the workers,” Cristina Tilling, the ETF Political Secretary of Road Transport added.

For further information, please contact the ETF Political Secretary of Road Transport – Cristina Tilling (c.tilling@etf-europe.org, phone: +32 (0)478 55 81 35)

ENDS

Related documents:

ETF Press Release - Professional drivers gain victory in European Parliament 28-04-2010 (46kb PDF)

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