just transition

With upcoming environmental legislation and new powertrain technologies, European road transport is at a crossroads. As jobs and working conditions continue to be impacted by new green transition-related regulations, road transport workers call for a Just Transition. As part of a joint EU-funded project, ETF and IndustriAll Europe organised a workshop dedicated to road transport sector.

The ETF welcomes the recent report published by Greenpeace, revealing the urgent need for better working conditions and employment standards in the aviation industry. There is no aviation industry without its workers, and they should become the 1st priority within the entire sector.

ETF and IndustriAll Europe joint JT4 Mobility workshop in Cologne discussed EU rail transport policies and rail development in Europe. Both organisations share concerns about constraints to achieve a Just Transition and the means currently available for rail workers, including the absence of a level playing field with other transport modes and insufficient investment.

The advances that could come from the Greening Transport Package, presented by the European Commission, are shadowed by a striking incoherence that the ETF must point out. The facilitation of cross-border operations of “gigaliners”, the 44-tonne longer and heavier vehicles with European Modular Systems running on fossil fuels, will be an obstacle to reach a clean and just transition to a carbon-neutral freight industry.

On 31 January and 1 February, industriAll Europe and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) hosted the first set of workshops within the joint EU-funded project on Building a Just Transition towards a Smart and Sustainable Mobility. The goal was to understand better the trends, impacts and challenges of the twin transition and propose strategies to guarantee a fair and just transition for all workers.

The European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) and industriAll Europe have embarked on a joint project to examine the impact on workers of the profound changes that will result from the decarbonisation of transport and to find ways to achieve a just transition for workers.

The aviation industry needs an ambitious decarbonisation plan with people at its centre. ETF lays out key principles in its sustainable aviation vision.

The transition to a more sustainable aviation sector will impact workers and trade unions are demanding concrete measures to ensure a just transition and a fair transformation of the sector which is inclusive and maintains and creates decent jobs.

One of the most important issues we want to raise with our ETF Civil Aviation position on the European Commission's Fit for 55 package is just transition and how environmental and social sustainability can go hand in hand if workers’ needs and voice are taken into account.