At ETF’s 6th Ordinary Congress in Budapest, Frank Moreels and Livia Spera were elected President and General Secretary of the European Transport Workers’ Federation.
ETF delegates representing transport trade unions across Europe confirmed Frank Moreels as President and Livia Spera as General Secretary to run the Federation for the next five years.
Before being re-elected for his second mandate as President of ETF, Frank Moreels stated:
“I have continuously been working on the change process that I promised you, and I am proud of what we have accomplished so far. (…) Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards! We have to continue rebuilding and reshaping the ETF every day. That is the reason why I am again a candidate for the presidency of ETF.”
“The voices of trade unionists has to sound louder. The far-right is becoming more and more aggressive. It must be our common ambition to fight back and I intend to continue fighting back, I hope together with all of you!”
Running for the position of General Secretary of the ETF, Livia Spera, who was appointed Acting General Secretary three years ago, presented to the delegates of the 6th ETF Congress the reasons for her candidacy:
“My ambition is to keep this organisation moving. I am motivated to make a difference for the workers we represent. Trade unions must not be bureaucratic and trade unionists must not become bureaucrats.
I want the ETF to be an organisation that is ready to act whenever we need to act, politically, industrially, in a united way and making the best out of our diversity, in respect of each other’s ideas, an organisation that moves through collective action and through collective intelligence, and that always has insight the interest of the workers we represent”.
Together, Moreels and Spera will lead ETF towards achieving their vision for Fair Transport:
- Where transport workers are at the core of decisions affecting them
- Where transport is free of profit-led exploitation and unfair competition
- With quality jobs and inclusive workplaces
- With safe, reliable and affordable transport services for customers
- Where social and environmental sustainability goes hand in hand
The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) holds its 6th Ordinary Congress from 24rd to 27th of May in Budapest, Hungary, under the theme “All Aboard: Destination Fair Transport!”
The Congress was organised in Hungary because transport unions, with their presence, wish to make a political statement and give their support to all democratic forces in Eastern Europe. The ETF defends trade union rights, LGBTQIA rights+, freedom of the press, civil rights, and human rights. The ETF stands for democracy, humanity and tolerance.
For the following two days, over 500 delegates from over 200 affiliates across Europe participating at the ETF Congress in Budapest will continue to debate and vote on the programme, political priorities, and strategies of the ETF for the next five years.
To find out what is happening at the ETF Congress, please check our dedicated Congress page.
Photos from the ETF Congress will be available on our Flickr account.
Journalists can send their questions related to the ETF Congress to ETF’s communications officers:
- Dana Berinde (d.berinde@etf-europa.org ) and
- Begüm Boynukalin (b.boynukalin@etf-europe.org)
Background information
The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) is a democratic pan-European trade union organisation representing over 5 million transport workers from transport trade unions in 38 countries of the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Congress is the supreme body of the ETF, gathering delegates from all our affiliated trade unions. As the highest decision-making body of the ETF, Congress elects the President and General Secretary for the next five-year mandate and the Executive Committee, whose task is to oversee that the agreed-upon priorities are met throughout these five years.
