ETF believes that mobility is a fundamental right that must be guaranteed by access to high-quality and inclusive public transport. Urban public transport also plays a critical role in the fight against climate change, congestion and pollution in cities.
High-quality public transport services require high-quality public transport jobs. However, workers in the sector face attacks on their wages and working conditions driven by insufficient funding. Violence from passengers, inadequate sanitary facilities, and more episodes of extreme heat are all problems affecting UPT workers. Shortages of workers caused by these problems are threatening the sector’s long-term sustainability.
ETF’s Urban Public Transport Committee (UPTC) acts to defend the interests of public transport workers in Europe. We want to safeguard and improve their social rights in an evolving economic environment, which endangers both working conditions and the very existence of collective public transport. We work to promote public transport as a solution for sustainable mobility, reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
Our trade union vision for sustainable urban mobility means improved safety for both passengers and workers, and a coherent social strategy for the future of public transport in the era of decarbonization, digitalisation and automation.
For the ETF quality public transport services for citizens and good working conditions for public transport workers go hand in hand. One is not possible without the other.
The priorities of the ETF Urban Public Transport (UPT) Committee for the 2022 – 2027 period are:
European social dialogue in the urban public transport (UPT) sector was launched in 2001 as part of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC) for road transport. The sectoral employers are represented by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) and the International Road Union (IRU).
Our Priorities for 2023–2024
The ETF Urban Public Transport Committee (UPTC) was established in 2000, as a joint project of the ETF Road Transport Section and the ETF Railway Section.
The UPTC brings together trade unions organising workers in public transport companies on both road and rail, whether in private or publicly-owned companies, in all public transport modes: bus, trolley bus, tram, metro, rail or taxis.
It meets once a year and is governed by the Chair and the Steering Committee whose members are elected every five years prior to the ETF Congress.
HEAD OF LAND TRANSPORT
Email: Cristina Tilling
Mobile: +32 (0)478 55 81 35
POLICY OFFICER FOR URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND MOBILITY
Email: Philip Freeman
Mobile: +32 (0)495 29 33 63
