by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Oct 6, 2022 | News
On 4 and 5 October, the 9th Congress of our organisation was held in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), bringing together train drivers from 13 different countries and the professional unions that represent them to work, debate and emerge stronger and more united.
CESI’s Secretary General opened the event with a speech highlighting the importance of ALE as a social partner in the European transport sector.
The member unions, aware that the challenges facing ALE in the coming years will be fundamental for the development of the profession of train drivers and the European railways, have decided to adopt a new set of internal organisational measures.
Despite the difficult times of recent years, the member unions have agreed on the good work of the Executive Presidency during its term of office and have demonstrated this by re-electing them again for the 2022-2026 term of office. In addition, the post of Secretary General has been created, which will give more impetus to the technical work we carry out with the European institutions.
The current process of revising the Directive on the Certification of Train Drivers was one of the main issues discussed, as well as the concern about the high average age of train drivers in Europe and the need to make this profession attractive to young people, which requires adequate working and social and economic conditions and the guarantee that safety standards are not lowered, but increased.
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.
