The story so far …

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1997: ITF unions launch drivers’ working hours’ campaign
The ITF organises the first International Day of Action against excessive working hours of professional drivers on 9 June 1997 after the resolution of the Road Transport Workers’ Section Conference in Paris in September 1996 calls upon the Federation and its affiliates to campaign for reduction in working hours. Road transport workers’ unions in 13 countries participate. Border blockades are set-up in Europe. Unions in Bangladesh win a new law on driving hours where two drivers are required to be on duty when driving time exceeds 8 hours.

1998: The world gets the message, ‘Fatigue Kills’
The Annual Meeting of the Section in March 1998 unanimously agrees to continue the Campaign. The Action Day is now set on 8 September, allowing the ITF Secretariat and the affiliates to spend more time on preparation. The ITF utilises regional education seminars in South Asia and Africa to discuss the Action Day Campaign. Altogether, affiliates in 34 countries join the event. Whilst powerful cross-border actions continue to attract the attention of the media in Europe, many unions in Africa, the Americas and Asia/Pacific join the Action Day for the first time. Concerted actions in Europe break the political deadlock of the Working Hours’ Directive debate in the European Union (EU) as the European Commission puts forward a set of proposals two months after the Action Day. In Paraguay, unions win legislation that will cancel operating licences of companies that violate the laws as a result of the Action Day.

1999: 200,000 road transport workers worldwide join protest over safety
The Action Day moves to 5 October, as the ITF directly targets the meeting of EU transport ministers in Luxembourg. Preparation for the Action Day is discussed in all ITF regions for the first time. As a result, road transport workers’ unions in 57 countries join the Action Day. Unions in South Asia alone bring 100,000 workers to the streets in hundreds of cities. Major routes are blocked in Argentina and Honduras. 50 border points are affected by actions in Europe. 400 activists from Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg take further border actions on 6 October in Luxembourg. This opens up a dialogue with the EU Transport Ministers to discuss the Directive on working time. In Nepal, the road transport union starts its negotiation with the government on 5 October by mobilising its members for the ITF’s Action Day and building up momentum in the ranks. Their follow-up actions prove to be effective as the union wins all the demands from the government after 3 months of negotiation. Many unions succeed to step-up their actions, resulting in more political strikes, international rallies and cooperation with rail and maritime workers. 1999 also sees the beginning of effective national co-ordination in some countries. Campaign materials are reproduced in 28 local languages.

Prior to the Action Day, the ITF circulates its worldwide survey on professional drivers’ fatigue. 6,000 replies from affiliates in 21 countries are returned to the Secretariat. They were sent to a research institute in Germany, Projektgruppe Logistik und Dienstleistung im Rhein-Ruhr-Institut für Sozialforschung und Politikberatung an der Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg, in January 2000 for data analysis.

Download the main report by the institute:

Part One is a comparative analysis of road transport workers between Europe and the non-European regions >>>

Part Two is a comparative analysis between different types of vehicles; namely trucks, buses and others >>>

2000: A quarter of a million professionals say, “enough is enough”
Truck, bus and taxi workers’ unions in 65 countries once again join the ITF’s Action Day, this time on 4 October, to combat excessive working hours. Regional meetings become regular forums to discuss the Action Day strategy. More unions meet voluntarily nationally and internationally to prepare the event. Unions from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain as well as the ITF and the ETF start the Action Day in Europe on 1 October as the Transport Ministers’ meeting is set on 2 October. An unprecedented 1,000 activists organise 9 simultaneous border blockades surrounding Luxembourg. Likewise, unionists from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Nigeria organise a joint cross-border action in Bitou, Burkina Faso for the first time. As a result, the unions address cross-border issues to the West African economic group, ECOWAS. Unions in Norway organise a transport general strike for the second consecutive year. Unions in India say, “one day is not enough” and hold events for a week. Some unions designate the ITF’s Action Day as the deadline for their negotiation with government or management. The ITF starts an organising project in Central America with the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center using the Action Day to promote the organising campaign. All participating unions join the Action Day.

2001: World road unions unite to deliver decent work
In the 5^th consecutive year of organising the event, the ITF calls upon its members to campaign for the improvement of road transport workers’ conditions and to organise them into the ranks of trade unions. Unions in 65 countries participate in the Action Day on 15 October – and unions in Benin, Cyprus, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ireland, Korea, Namibia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Togo participate in the Campaign for the first time. Various actions are organised including lobbies of parliament, border actions, road blockades, mock-up of traffic accidents, rallies, leafleting and demonstrations. As part of the campaign, the ITF's European arm, the ETF, organises a second day of action in Luxembourg on 16 October where the EU Council of Transport Ministers is meeting. 30 unionists from 11 unions in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain meet with the President of the Transport Ministers' Council who promises to establish a working group to discuss amendments to Regulation 3820 and other pending issues. In Burkina Faso, approximately 200 truck drivers gather at Bittou for a West African sub-regional celebration of the ITF Road Transport Action Day. Road transport unions from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo send delegates to Bittou. A refresher course on the highway code is organised, as well as a rally and distribution of leaflets. Videos on HIV/AIDS are also shown to the drivers. "Our members who have gone out on the Day of Action to deliver the information packages and get feedback from the drivers have come back with a feeling of accomplishment in knowing that they have had an opportunity to go out and speak to the drivers on an important issue which may not be discussed with such a cross-section of road transport workers" reports the CAW, Canada.

2002: Continuous pressure by road transport unions bears fruit in Europe
Continuous and concerted pressure exerted by the road transport workers’ unions in Europe finally bears its fruit when the Working Time Directive for mobile road transport workers is adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Transport Ministers in February 2002. Slowly but surely, the industrial muscle of the unions, together with their tireless lobbying efforts, has “cleared the first hurdle of this long race”.

As a new initiative, the Secretariat sends out “Campaign Alerts” to affiliates by post, fax and email on a regular basis. Various actions are organised, including demonstrations, stoppages, information seminars and cross-border events and some 72 unions in 50 countries play an active part in the Action Day on 15 October. Within 60 hours, the ITF receives more than 40 reports, mostly by e-mail, of actions and events taking place on the day. Hundreds of thousands of activists take part, including more than 30,000 in Bangladesh. Cross-border activity takes place between unions in Poland and Germany, the Netherlands and Germany, and Canada and the United States. Trade unionists in El Salvador and Guatemala, the Czech republic and Austria, Norway and Sweden, and Norway and Finland, as well as South Africa and Swaziland, and South Africa and Zimbabwe also carry out cross-border events. In Asia/Pacific, the Transport Workers' Union in Malaysia successfully commemorates the signing of the first memorandum of understanding on occupational health and safety with a major bus operator on the action day itself and in Thailand, TRAN-U secures legislation limiting working hours to eight per day, with rest time after four hours.

2003: Port workers join events on the Action Day
More than a quarter of a million truck, bus and taxi workers in 65 countries join the Action Day campaign on 13 October. Whilst the main demands of the Campaign remain as the reduction of working hours and improvement in working conditions under the slogan “Fatigue Kills!” the ITF welcomes affiliates to add their local themes in line with the campaign against excessive working hours. In particular, unions are urged to use the Action Day to organise unorganised workers and/or to coordinate joint actions between unions representing the same multinational company in different countries. Recognising the rapid development in transport logistics, the ITF Dockers’ Section and its members also support the Action Day, where relevant and appropriate. Port workers join events for the first time in Japan, Malaysia, Ghana, Spain and Costa Rica. Coverage of the Action Day Campaign in the world's major media reaches an all time high in 2003. In Honduras, the Labour Ministry publicly announces that the working hours of professional drivers will be regulated, thanks to pressure by ITF affiliate SINAMEQUIPH, which has been driving home the message that fatigue costs lives. If regulations are enforced, drivers will be limited to an eight-hour working day.

2004: International road transport days build on Fatigue Kills actions
Building on the success of the Campaign, the Action Day is organised over two days on 11-12 October. Following a decision by the ITF Road Transport Workers’ Section Conference in Berlin, it is agreed that for the 2004 Action Day more attention should be focused on “organising the unorganised”. The Action Day also features safety and security issues as part of the ITF’s cross-sectional campaign, which started in September 2004. The “Fatigue Kills!” slogan is used as part of the campaign logo and for the first time a different slogan is chosen for the campaign materials: “Union Action for Safety and Security at Work”. Coordination with the dockers’ unions continues, with activities organised at port areas in Brazil, Ecuador, Great Britain, India, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, the Philippines and Togo. Japanese maritime unions distribute 50,000 leaflets at 62 container terminals all over Japan. In Nepal, NETWON holds an inauguration conference for its taxi workers in Kathmandu as part of its Action Day programme. The union had worked for over four years to organise nearly 50% of the 7,500 taxi drivers in the capital of Nepal. In Jordan, the tanker drivers of the oil and petrochemical workers’ union successfully reaches an agreement with the Jordan Refinery Company on the existing health insurance system and implementation of the 2002 collective agreement on overtime payment, annual increments and rest time.

2005: Unions take on the organising challenge in road transport Action Week
The highly successful International Road Transport Action Day Campaign is expanded into an Action Week for the first time in order to allow many unions to organise a wider range of activities both nationally and regionally. The Campaign organised on 10-16 October includes wider themes in line with the general health and safety issues in road transport as well as union organising efforts under the slogan “Organising Globally – Building Union Power”. Based on a decision at the Section Annual Meeting that the Campaign be used by unions to approach international drivers, an ITF Survey on International Drivers is also distributed for use by unions. The Survey is made available in Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish. In addition, the ITF and its affiliated unions in West Africa use the Campaign to conduct a regional questionnaire to give truck transport workers an opportunity to identify their three most pressing problems so that with this information, the ITF will assist affiliated unions to develop appropriate trade unions responses and organise around them. A first ever collaboration between Ugandan and Kenyan unions also gets off the ground - their activities include celebrations at truck stops at two border crossings. Meanwhile, union representatives from Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay visit cross-border facilities in Brazil, where truck drivers talk about the lack of rest facilities and police harassment. The British T&G launches a campaign during the Action Week to improve toilet facilities for drivers and in particular to provide toilet access on bus routes.

In September 2005, the ILO, after consultation with the ITF, produced a working paper on “The issues of fatigue and working time in the road transport sector” . The paper refers to the many serious issues in road transport and the conclusions identify the conflict between fatigue, hours of work and the demands of the industry for cheap and fast delivery. The ILO paper also acknowledges the on-going campaign by the ITF and its affiliates on “fatigue kills” and expresses its support to the International Action Week. The paper was circulated to affiliates for discussion and comment. In Kenya, the working paper was presented to government representatives attending the Action Week activity organised by unions.

2006: Action Week brings organising boost for road transport unions
Thousands of road transport workers supported their unions in rallies, meetings and other events around the world to mark ITF Road Transport Action Week from 9-15 October. Among reports received from 51 countries, ITF affiliates in Jordan and Palestine told how they joined the Action Week for the first time this year, holding simultaneous meetings in Amman and the West Bank to further develop their solidarity. High profile actions were reported by Spanish affiliates in cooperation with their neighbouring unions in France and Portugal. Regional actions were organised in Brussels to demand improvement in the rest facilities in Europe and in Bamako (Mali) to address border delays, police corruption and HIV/AIDS issues in West Africa. School bus workers from across the US honoured co-workers who had been injured or killed at work during a "Day of Remembrance", organised by the Teamsters and the SEIU. Organisers from CAW Local 4268 targeted five specific companies in school bus and waste management in their attempt to recruit members into the union. SINAMEQUIPH in Honduras presented a document to the State Secretary for Work and Social Security demanding that government inspectors be assigned to carry out a survey among workers who transport products for the Honduras Brewery (SAB Miller Group). The union claimed that cases of employees working up to 16 hours a day and causing accidents were evident in the company. In New Zealand, the RMTU distributed leaflets and pamphlets in order to inform workers about the union and its work on improving transport workers' conditions, with excellent feedback from drivers. Some unions saw direct results from their organising efforts during the Action Week for example, the Norwegian Transport Union recruited altogether 150 new members to the union.

2007: Road transport workers’ unions pledge solidarity with Iranian workers during Action Week
The Action Week is organised on 15-21 October under the slogan “Organising Globally – Buidling Union Power”. The Swedish public services' union Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet utilised the Action Week to secure collective bargaining agreements in bus companies where a CBA currently does not exist. 200 members from the Mpumalanga branch of SATAWU were joined by a delegation from the Swaziland Transport & Allied Workers' Union in a rally organized by SATAWU at the Oshoek border. Representatives from taxi and bus employers, the regional Transport Department and COSATU spoke in support of better working conditions and safety improvements. The rally also called for proper recognition of trade union rights in Swaziland. In Brazil, CNTTT used the Action Week to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. Activists from the union spoke with truck and urban bus drivers about HIV/AIDS and distributed leaflets and condoms to the drivers. Members of ETTA (Estonia), LAKRS (Latvia) and LTWF (Lithuania) held joint actions at the Terechovo and Grebnevo border-crossings with Russia in Latvia as part of the joint activity by the transport unions in the Baltic States to highlight problems experienced by drivers when crossing the borders. Joint letters are also sent by the unions to the governments in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia about the border issues. Representatives from the Teamsters and ILWU locals in the US and Canada distributed leaflets with the message "Better Pay - Safer Trucks - Cleaner Air - Booming Ports - Go Union!" and spoke to drivers as they crossed the US/Canadian truck border crossing in Blaine, Washington. The message of organising to raise standards received a positive response. Activists from the T&G Section of UNITE handed out leaflets on container cargo safety to over 300 drivers at the Southampton container terminal. The information leaflets, which highlighted awareness of heavy loads, also drew attention to the risk of overloading. This activity followed a spate of accidents where container trucks had turned over. As part of the Action Week, ITF unions also expressed their solidarity with Mansour Osanloo by participating in the "Free Osanloo!" badge campaign.

2008: Railway unions join the Action Week
Recognising the developments in supply-chain and transport logistics, and the greater need for transport unions to work closely should they wish to increase their membership through recruitment campaigns, the ITF Road Transport Workers’ Section, at its Steering Committee meeting in March 2008, decided to invite members of the ITF Railway Workers’ Section to participate in events for the Action Week and for joint actions to be organised where relevant and appropriate. In Nepal, NETWON organised huge rallies in several cities around Nepal. On 19 October, a huge taxi rally was held in Kathmandu. More than 600 taxis participated in the rally. Ajay Rai commented, “This event…is the big festival to our members and union to show our strength and introducing the police, public and government through this type of rally…and organising to new members”. In Mexico, the ATM visited truck drivers of the principal market in Mexico City to talk with them about labour rights and the importance of days off in order to prevent accidents by fatigue. Members of ver.di in Germany, including some retired truck drivers, campaigned during the Action Week for improvement in rest facilities. The Kenya Long Distance Truck Drivers and Allied Workers’ Union reported that they took a roadshow of five trailers and dozens of union activists, as well as senior staff from the Ministry of Transport and two police motorbikes as escort, from Mombasa to the border crossing with Uganda. Rallies at the junctions and truck stops were held along the way to educate professional drivers on road safety and ways to reduce corruption. On 17-18 October, unionists, NGO members and academics attended a special conference in Oslo to discuss the cooperations that trade unions and the wider social movement can develop.

2009: Organising and workers’ representation get on the agenda during ITF action week
On 7-13 October, road transport unions and their members came together under the slogan “Organising Globally – Building Union Power” to organise a variety of activities for the Action Week to highlight important issues that affect road transport workers and to emphasize the importance of belonging to a union. In Thailand, ITF road transport unions and other affiliates approached port drivers in Laem Chabang Port and distributed information about the ITF, Thai labour law and how to join the union. Meanwhile in Germany, unionists highlighted issues such as poor working conditions, badly equipped parking and rest facilities and unfavourable working time regulations across the country. Discussions on the benefits of unionisation between activists and taxi drivers took place at taxi stations across Colombia and a mass distribution of campaign leaflets to workers at different transport companies and vehicle parades at various industrial estates were organised in Spain. In Ethiopia a week-long programme of activities included panel discussions on issues such as violence at work and HIV/AIDS in the transport sector and a petition highlighting solidarity with trade unionists in Iran.

2010: Road transport workers and global delivery workers come together to highlight issues linked to "Respect & Safety Now!"
On 6-12 October, unions and their members came together to organise a variety of activities to highlight important issues linked to the slogan, "Respect & Safety Now!". Unions took action to highlight different themes during the Action Week, including fatigue kills!, road transport safety, global delivery, respect for DHL workers, decent work, quality public services. In Estonia, ETTA representatives organised an information campaign during the Action Week in different cities to raise public awareness about the importance of drivers' work and their working conditions. The union also distributed leaflets and a questionnaire to truck drivers at the petrol stations as part of an organising campaign. In Great Britain, UNITE activists gathered in Dover on 13 October to highlight the union's message of 'No to privatisation' of the Port and the demand for equal wages for all drivers. The Mongolian Transport, Communication & Petroleum Workers' Union started their programme of activities for the Action Week with a meeting, attended by the Prime Minister and other government officials, which focused on road transport safety and health issues for road transport workers. Road transport unions SINTRAT (Mozambique) and SATAWU (South Africa) organised a joint seminar to prepare members for the Action Week. Teams of activists from CAW Local 114 in Canada used the Action Week to talk to truckers and delivery drivers at different locations throughout the region about issues relating to respect and safety and discuss how respect can be strengthened.

Read about activities for the 2010 Action Week >>

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