Email page

Border blockades worked

Change low graphic options | Change language | Skip content to navigation

Page context: Home > Transport International Magazine > Issue 9 August 2002 > Border blockades worked

Hubert Hollerich is the Secretary for Transport of the OGB-L, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Luxembourg. He has been active in organising border blockades involving thousands of drivers to demand reasonable working hours. Here, Hubert reflects on the achievements, and what might come next.

At the beginning, in 1997, our actions for the International Road Transport Action Day were very small in Europe, just a slow convoy on the motorway for an hour or so involving some unions from Luxembourg and France. After that, each year the activities grew, involving more and more unions from France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. By 2000, we had all the big drivers’ unions from those countries, plus militants from the UK, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Italy, and even some railway workers joined in.

That was a very big Action Day. The European Union Transport Ministers were meeting in Luxembourg to discuss the Working Time Directive for road transport workers, and so we held blockades on all the borders with Germany, Belgium and France. Luxembourg was cut off for the whole night, from Sunday 21:00 to Monday 11:00. The atmosphere was very good, with so many nations together. At first the Ministers did not want to receive the ETF/ITF delegation, but then they agreed because of the blockades.

The ITF gave us a lot of information, concrete figures, case studies which we used to argue our case with the politicians. Our strength lay in the fact that all the unions could use the same arguments, raise the same issues.

We also gave out this information to the private car drivers who were held up in the traffic jams. We opened up the blockades for them to pass through and they supported us because we made the link between safety of the truck drivers and of everyone who uses the roads. On a trailer we had a damaged truck that had been in an accident where the driver fell asleep at the wheel; he lost both his legs. People could climb into the cab and really get an impression of the accident.

In 2001, the Action Day was also good, with blockades on the French and German borders, and the added pressure meant we got the Working Time Directive passed in February 2002. We believe we would not have achieved it without the blockades.

The directive gives definitions of working time for a truck driver, including waiting time. It states how long a truck driver can work within certain periods. But it has its limitations. For one thing, it does not include self-employed drivers. This will lead to problems if companies shift to using subcontracted owner-operators rather than employing drivers directly. The European Commission has said it will study this matter in two years’ time.

Now, after five years of the ITF campaign, I think it is time to innovate. Perhaps each region should have its own focus. Many drivers I know would like to focus more on the employers and how they treat the drivers.

Section home:
Issue 9 August 2002

Full graphics version

accessibility | site help | site map

The journal of the International Transport Workers' Federation

ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR | +44 20 7403 2733 | mail@itf.org.uk