Skip to main content
ETF black logo ETF black logo ETF black logo ETF black logo

Google Translate

ETF Manifesto launched in more languages: German, Italian, French and Spanish

Statement

Ahead of the 2024 European Elections, the ETF now launches its Manifesto “A New Deal for Fair Transport” in more languages. This comprehensive manifesto, that outlines a series of critical demands of European transport workers, is now available in German, Italian, French and Spanish! 

This manifesto is a call to action to all candidates for the EU election and European political parties to commit to these demands, advocating for a fair and just Europe that places transport workers at the forefront of its policies.

The ETF and its affiliates will be meeting policymakers, candidates, and citizens to discuss and mobilise around this document. The goal is to put transport and transport workers at the centre of the debates in the months until the European Elections of 2024.

Key Highlights of the Manifesto:

Challenging the Narrative: Contrary to popular belief, Europe does not face a labour shortage but a shortage of decent jobs. The ETF emphasises the need to redefine transport work, which is currently plagued by low wages, long hours, and declining working conditions.

Worker-Centric Policy Making: The manifesto demands a shift in transport policy to focus on the needs and concerns of transport workers, calling for a decisive political commitment from European candidates and parties.

Protection and Enforcement: Specific measures are sought to protect mobile workers, alongside strengthening sectoral collective bargaining, regulating subcontracting, and enhancing the role of the European Labour Authority (ELA).

Safe and Discrimination-Free Work Environment: Ensuring a workplace free of harassment and discrimination, the ETF calls for an end to precarious work conditions and a gender-sensitive approach in all EU transport policies.

Economic Oversight and Social Provisions: The manifesto seeks greater transparency in company decision-making, social conditionality in subsidies and state aid, and social considerations in procurement procedures.

Sustainable and Fair Green Transition: ETF advocates for a just green transition, emphasising fair resource distribution, an end to austerity policies, and active engagement of workers and trade unions in the process.

Inclusive Digital Transition: The manifesto calls for updates to EU labour law to protect workers against the challenges posed by new technologies, ensuring digitalisation in the workplace is negotiated and reinforces decent work, labour rights, democracy, and gender equality.

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.
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.
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.