#NoViolenceAtWork

by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Oct 30, 2020 | News

Violence at work is a recurrent problem that many of our trade union affiliates experience, more frequently in regional and local passenger transport.

The guidelines are an important step to equip our members with tools to address and, ideally, prevent violence against them in the first place.

As underlined in various occasions through a joint declaration of the social partners, the guidelines are a crucial instrument to support the right of workers to a safe and healthy workplace, in line with the EU Framework Directive on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), the European pillar of social rights and, not least, at global level, the adopted ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment.

The guidelines are still very much needed: despite the progressive increase in awareness and in the procedures available against violence and harassment at work, there has been an increase in violence and harassment of third parties at work in several sectors and in the EU Member States, and the lack of information and data is still to be regretted, which means that the figures may even be higher than expected. Therefore, as an important tool to counteract this situation, these Guidelines should be further disseminated and promoted at EU and especially national level, thus reaching out to workers on the ground, who are the actual or potential victims of aggressive behaviour, whether verbal, physical or psychological.

Today we are again participating, together with the other colleagues who are part of @CESI, in a symposium to share our point of view, our experience and to set the guidelines for the future.

No violence should be allowed. #NoViolenceAtWork #TrainDrivers

ALE Board of Directors

by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Oct 1, 2020 | News

Once again, due to the global health situation, the ALE Board, which represents more than 45,000 train drivers throughout Europe, is meeting virtually to exchange experiences and situations and to draw up a roadmap based on the most sustainable and environmentally friendly means of transport, such as the railways, which should be one of the levers helping the economy to recover. To this end, and always based on safety of both train drivers and the rest of the train staff, as well as passengers, we work day by day for the opportunities that arise in these times we live in.

ALE is new member of the GRB (Group of Representative Bodies)

by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | Jun 15, 2020 | News

On 15 June 2020, the ALE became part of the GRB by unanimous vote of its members, as set out in its terms of reference.
This situation will make it possible to enrich, with the experience of European train drivers, the decisions taken in Europe in the field of railways.

https://grbrail.eu/

“The Group of Representative Bodies (GRB) is a grouping of railway associations in Europe with the role of supporting, in a transverse way, the rail sector’s input to the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) work programme and its effect on safety and interoperability. Furthermore it plays a role in developing the activities associated with research, innovation and standardisation and therefore has links with European standardisation and research bodies and processes. GRB is formed from the associations that are named as “Representative Bodies”, comprising the companies making up the railway operating community and the supply and manufacturing industry. Together these companies are responsible for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the railway system.”

Press Release – ALE Board of Directors

by Alejandro Martínez Treceño | May 27, 2020 | News

27th Mai 2020

Yesterday afternoon a meeting of the ALE Board of Directors took place in an extraordinary way, due to the COVID-19 crisis, and was held for the first time virtually.

The President of ALE, Juan Jesús García Fraile, made a brief presentation of the most worrying issues for us as a professional union of train drivers in Europe and the path we have taken, based on safety, training, professionalism and employment, to get out of this pothole all together, but emphasizing and focusing on social, labour and economic rights of railway workers and in particular of train drivers.

Each member shared its particular situation with the entire Board of Directors, finding more common ground: the willingness of all of us, both at local and general level, to work side by side with organisations and institutions in order to guarantee the return to a safe and progressive railway operation, within the framework of quality employment and with the intention of continuing to provide an essential service to citizens, a commitment that all train drivers throughout Europe have amply demonstrated by carrying out their activity in the most difficult times, thus allowing for continuity in development and the adoption of measures that allow society to maintain a level, sometimes minimal, of guarantees of mobility, supply of essential goods and sustainability.

Given that we are at a critical time for the European railways due to the transposition of the 4th Railway Package and the pandemic that has ravaged the world, we see the need to repeat these meetings with the main representatives of European train drivers frequently in order to be able to check that the return to normality is being measured in each of the Member States and that nobody is being left behind as a result of interested acts to the detriment of the conditions of all our colleagues.

We hope that the light at the end of the tunnel will be translated into a short-term future in which rail transport is finally promoted as the backbone of the territory and as a sustainable means of bringing both people and goods into their homes in a safe and clean manner.