ETF black logo ETF black logo ETF black logo ETF black logo

Google Translate

COVID-19: Social Partners’ Joint Statement on Contingency Measures in Ports

Statement

 

In the global emergency of COVID-19 outbreak, dockers are on the frontline, ensuring loading and unloading of essential goods in European ports.

While continuing monitoring the evolution of the spread of COVID19 and evaluating its possible disruptive effects on the port sector, on the occasion of today’s extraordinary meeting of the Council of EU Transport Ministers, ETF Dockers prepared a joint statement with IDC, FEPORT and ESPO.

We call for:

  • EU Commission to provide guidance on measures to be applied in ports, in order to preserve dockers’ health and safety;
  • Port companies to implement more stringent measures and provide necessary means to protect workers;
  • Port workers to strictly respect the health and safety measures in the workplaces;
  • Economic measures to face disruptive effects of #COVID19 on the sector and prevent job losses.

 

The letter can be downloaded here.

ESPO
European Commission
FEPORT
IDC
Dockers

ON THE GROUND

News

Keeping a warming Europe moving: how hot temperatures affect transport workers and what can be done about it

As part of the European continent undergoes its fourth heatwave of 2026, it has become abundantly clear that occupational heat exposure is no longer an exceptional or occasional summer hazard. It is an emergent occupational hazard only destined to escalate. Europe is the second fastest-warming region of the globe after the Arctic. According to EU-OSHA 2025 numbers, one in five workers in the EU signaled exposure to extreme heat at work in the previous 12 months, a figure rising to one in three in some countries.
climate change
hot temperatures
working conditions
News

Unruly passengers: more than just summer headlines

Summer may be synonymous with relaxation for holidaymakers and every summer seems to produce its share of eye-catching headlines. Just days ago, The Guardian reported on a drunk British holidaymaker who tried to kiss a flight attendant on a plane and was arrested on his way back through Palma airport. A week earlier, headlines were dominated by reports of a flight from Dublin to Ibiza descending into what was described as "sex and booze chaos," leaving fellow passengers shocked.
unruly passenger
unruly passengers
Civil Aviation
News

UK public transport unions sound the alarm over lack of toilet access for drivers

Public transport unions in the United Kingdom are raising urgent concerns about the lack of access to toilet facilities for bus and train drivers, a problem that has persisted for years but is now reaching a breaking point. Reports from across the UK show drivers being forced to work entire shifts without guaranteed access to a toilet, leaving them to rely on improvised or unsafe alternatives, including urinating in bottles in their driving cab. Some unions are now considering industrial action to force employers and authorities to act.
Railways
Urban Public Transport