News June 20, 2025
From the outside, aviation may still seem like a glamorous industry. But for many young workers – aircrew, ground staff, and air traffic management (ATM) personnel – the daily reality is a grind of fatigue, insecurity, and unsustainable schedules. In two recent workshops hosted by ETF, young aviation workers shared their lived experiences around the topics of work-life balance and mental health.
Press Release June 19, 2025
To mark the longest day of the year, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), with the support of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), is once again shining a light on a crisis that doesn’t end with daylight: driver fatigue. On 21 June, ETF and its affiliates will organise coordinated actions across Europe to raise awareness of fatigue in road freight and passenger transport, and to call for safe rates for all drivers.
News June 18, 2025
French union leader Béatrice Lestic calls for zero tolerance against workplace discrimination, arguing that true equality requires unions to actively create inclusive environments where LGBTQIA+ workers can be themselves without fear. Her message comes ahead of ETF’s “We are all equally different” conference in Paris on June 26-27, with registrations still open.
News June 13, 2025
The recent decision by Catalonia’s Labour Inspectorate to fine Amazon for failing to disclose the algorithms used to manage its workforce is a landmark moment in the fight against algorithmic exploitation in the logistics and e-commerce sector. This is not an isolated case. Across Europe, AI technologies have become a central feature of warehousing and last-mile delivery, often at the expense of workers’ rights, dignity, and well-being.
News June 12, 2025
A key step toward better working conditions for fishers and stronger international labour standards.
News June 6, 2025
Aviation workers are concerned about the Council of Transport Ministers agreement on the air passenger rights reform decided by yesterday’s Transport Council. The agreed attacks on passenger rights, such as increasing the threshold for compensation from 3 to 4 hour delays, can have serious consequences for airlines and airports frontline workers, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) warns.
Statement June 6, 2025
The ETF welcomes the stronger emphasis placed by the European Commission on sustainable transport in the 2025 Country-Specific Recommendations of the European Semester. We are encouraged to see 15 Member States explicitly urged to invest in public rail and urban transport — including commitments to upgrade infrastructure and electrify fleets. These are long-overdue steps towards a more sustainable and inclusive transport system.
News June 4, 2025
The Commission has initiated a fitness check of key airport regulations. If you agree that there are better ways to organise ground handling, to ensure the operational stability and social resilience, please engage and help us make sure that the voice of frontline workers and trade unions is heard. We show you how to take part in the survey sent out by DG Move.
News
The rise of far-right ideologies has worsened institutionalised discrimination, creating toxic anti-LGBTQI+ narratives and policies that threaten the lives of marginalized groups. ETF is committed to combating these divisive, populist narratives and ensuring that trade unions play a pivotal role in supporting equality and inclusivity, especially for those who face harassment in the workplace based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other aspects of identity.
Publication
Two years ago, the ETF launched a project to look in more detail at the roots of the above trends. Three reports – on road, rail and urban public transport were developed within the frame of the project to cast light on how liberalisation and market-opening policies led to undesirable effects that put at stake the very goals and objectives set by the same policymakers.
Statement
The publication by the European Commission of its Omnibus proposal revising key corporate sustainability laws sends a clear political signal: President Ursula von der Leyen is deprioritising human rights, workers’ rights and environmental protections for the sake of dangerous deregulation. ETF joined over 360 organisations in a joint statement calling out on the consequences of this package.
News
Belgian trade union leader Frank Moreels stepped down from his function of ETF President, in view of his upcoming role as President of the ITF. A Swiss national, Giorgio Tuti has been a high-profile unionist in the trade union movement since 1988. He served as President of the Swiss Transport Workers’ Union (SEV) for 14 years, from 2009 to 2023 and has been Vice-Chair of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation since 2009. Tuti has been chairing the ETF Railways Section since 2017.
