by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Jun 22, 2022 | News
Safety Culture and European Social Dialogue were the main topics of the meeting we held this morning with the President and representatives of the European Air Traffic Controllers’ Union (ATCEUC – www.atceuc.org).
This meeting, between European trade union organizations of professionals on whom safety has a considerable impact, responds to the need to join forces in order to achieve common objectives in our sector. The current railway liberalization and the unbalanced transposition of the 4th Railway Package among the member States, as well as the lack of railway operations after the Covid 19 pandemic, which are causing a fall in railway jobs, where there is already a high average age, have been topics discussed during this morning.
The need to provide accident and incident Investigation Bodies with independence and human and economic resources to make transport safer and more reliable, to work in a preventive way, and to look for the causes in order to propose solutions was highlighted.
We will continue to work hand in hand to share experience, work against labor and social dumping in our sector, and carry out joint proposals.
by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Jun 16, 2022 | UE Commission
On 14 and 15 June, together with CESI (www.cesi.org), we held meetings with European authorities in Brussels.
On the first day, we met with the Cabinet of the Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, and that same afternoon we were with the heads of the Directorate-General for Mobility (DG MOVE) of the European Commission.
On the second day, we had meetings with 5 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and their assistants.
The topics we discussed directly with them were the following:
– Situation after Covid on the railways
– Job shortage
– Women’s integration
– Loss of railway operations after Covid -19
– Sustainable Transport and Railways
– Safety Culture
– Revision of the Train Drivers’ Directive
We all agreed and welcomed the intention to continue working hand in hand and we have proposed to monitor, with information and data from our side, the evolution of the recovery of rail traffic.
Bearing in mind that being a train driver in Europe does not provide any incentive, nor do the regulations make such a specific profession, with such high psychophysical demands, attractive to the new generations.
The average age of the train driving community and the European railway community is, in general, very high.
If we do not manage to attract professionals to the sector by means of appropriate regulation, we will soon find ourselves unable to put trains on the rails because there are no workers available.
It is time to act accordingly.
by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Jun 2, 2022 | News
On the 31 of May and 1 of June ALE celebrated his board meeting in the perfect context of Rome. At the event participated all the European members involved in the activities of ALE at EU level. The European Year of Rail 2021 has come to an end and we could discuss and assess most of the statements and initiatives produced at the EU and national level related to boosting railways in order to reach the Green Deal target.
ALE considers that there is still a long way to go to achieve these goals and claims that the different organizations and Member States have to get more involved. In some countries, the railways have experienced a setback. There cannot be two railways in Europe moving at two different speeds.
After the pandemic, international cross-border and national trains have still not recovered from previous rates in several Member States. It should be a demand of the Union towards them, considering also the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) tool set up for this purpose. This situation has led to a worsening of working conditions such as employment rights, workplaces, lower levels of wages and unfair competition practices in some countries. We are working actively at EU and national level to return to previous standards of service and quality in the train drivers sector and railway workers.
ALE is aware of the importance of rail interoperability as a key element of union, development and prosperity. Work on the standardization and implementation of important issues such as ERTMS or the application of the train driver’s directive equally in all countries. Up to now, there have been widely differing interpretations in the individual countries for obtaining a train driver’s license. There must be common criteria and provisions, which would equalize safety and quality standards in each Member State.
Ultimately we want to send all our support to Ukraine, to its citizens, and the train drivers and railways workers in particular. All the members of ALE are collaborating with them from different lines and in first person our Polish, Hungarian and Czech colleagues. The great and unceasing work that the Ukrainian train drivers and railwaymen are doing, under extreme conditions of war to provide their compatriots with survival and subsistence conditions, demonstrates the European spirit of our collective.
by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Nov 18, 2021 | News
On the 3rd, 4th and 5th of November, the “Rail Safety Days”, promoted by the ERA (European Railway Agency), were held in the Portuguese city of Porto.
The event was attended by numerous experts in the field, from all the railway institutions and organisations with relevance in Europe and related to Railway Safety, like Railway Undertakings, Infrastructure Managers, Suppliers, etc.
The European train drivers’ union, ALE, participated as one of the 4 commentators who intervened throughout the event after the rounds of presentations and made a final summary at the end of the conference. In addition to highlighting the value of the profession of train driver and its close relationship with Safety, a fundamental part of our interventions and demands in Europe, the importance of accompanying the Safety Culture in the railway sector with the application of a Just Culture, which really serves to make the system safer, generating a climate of trust when it is necessary to report incidents or events related to Safety without the fear of being punished or persecuted for it, was also highlighted. Drivers often feel that they are the last link in the safety chain, and sometimes the only link.
Train drivers were one of the main levers that served as an example of a group that is affected in a special way. For all these reasons, we will continue to highlight the professionalism of all our colleagues and the importance of developing a Justa Safety Culture and useful reporting tools, as a safe railway is an attractive railway for both workers and users. Professions such as ours are nourished by female train drivers who decide to join this beautiful profession because it is becoming more reliable every day.
ALE continues to be a benchmark for railway driving in Europe and from here we continue working to make the European railway a safer and more efficient railway, which serves as an element of recovery and fulfils its function as a backbone in line with respect for the environment.
by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Sep 14, 2021 | ERA
One of the main demands of ALE as a defender and spokes organization for train drivers throughout Europe is the commitment to a Safety Culture in the railway sector that really works, that is a Just Safety Culture: which does not punish the professional who makes decisions in tenths of a second; a professional who, on most occasions, is the last link in the safety chain.
In order to further improve safety in the European rail system, the European Agency for Railways (ERA) is launching a unique safety perception survey open to all rail professionals working in the European Union and in EFTA states: the European Rail Safety Climate Survey (ERA-SCS). It is an online survey hosted on the EUSurvey platform, accessible in 22 European languages on smartphones, tablets and computers. And now ALE is involved as one of the main collaborators together with the ERA in disseminating the survey and reaching out to a more specific target group: European train drivers.
To reach all those professionals contributing to the European rail system and working in those organizations who did not participate as partners and those who wanted to answer solely at the European level, the standard ERA-SCS has been launched on the 16th of June and accessible until the 7th of October.
Click here to access the different language versions of the ERA-SCS
It is essential that this survey receives feedback from European train drivers, as our perception of safety, our profession and the way we experience it are very specific and decisive in the development of such a sensitive issue as SAFETY.
If you are a train driver, fill in the survey!!
