Press Release – ALE Position Paper

Press Release – ALE Position Paper

by | Apr 20, 2020 | News

Today, more than ever and in the conditions we least desire, the need for and the importance of trade unions is becoming apparent.

Throughout Europe, we have seen with joy in ALE that our member unions, professional unions of Train Drivers, have worked side by side with companies and governments to cope with this situation and to maintain jobs, moving the railway operation forward and ensuring the health and integrity of our colleagues.

The train drivers´ work, committed, professional and essential in our times, has made clear the importance and relevance they have within railway companies and, once again, they have proved their worth in the most difficult times.

When all of this goes away, when this global pandemic is just a bad memory, we must keep in mind that the global health crisis cannot be an excuse for certain companies to undermine the rights of rail workers; we are fulfilling our duties as train drivers and we will work to make our environment more committed, more professional, more trained and safer.

It is time for the effective “shift to rail”, the mode of transport that supports this crisis. It is time to fulfil the European Green Deal and make this world more eco-sustainable. It is time to finally give freight transport by train the importance it deserves.

We will continue to demand that the transposition of the 4th Railway Package cannot be an “à la carte” transposition; the Safety Directive is clear and we must, together, ensure that the standards that comprise it are carried out in each Member State. Safety and a Just Safety Culture will, as always, mark our roadmap.

As a train driver, a railway man and a worker, I would like to send a message of encouragement to all our colleagues and a desire for health for all of them and their relatives.

 

 

Juan Jesús García Fraile
PRESIDENT OF ALE
Thanks for not giving up

Thanks for not giving up

by | Mar 25, 2020 | News

We would like to thank you all for the work you are carrying out in these very difficult circumstances in which we find ourselves. Thanks to you, many workers are being able to get to their jobs, guaranteeing the supply and the infrastructures that maintain us, contributing to the world not being paralyzed and that, together, we can get out of this crisis.

Throughout these hard days, we are receiving stories from many countries in Europe. People committed to the health of their colleagues, responsible in the use of the means provided, involved in keeping their job and hands disinfected, and over all these stories of effort and positivity, actions that make us feel proud to belong to a kind of work like ours is, to be a train driver.

And because of that…

Thanks for being responsible

Thank you for your commitment

Thanks for your involvement

Thank you for your effort

There are many people that, like us, must be providing their services and thanks to our effort, many of them can continue coming to their work to carry out those essential tasks like ours. Without our effort, nothing would be possible.

Thanks for not giving up.

 

Memorandum of Understanding ALE-ETF

Memorandum of Understanding ALE-ETF

by | Feb 13, 2020 | News

 

Yesterday, February 13th 2020, the collaboration agreement between ALE and ETF (European Transport Worker´s Federation) was finally signed. It is a historic moment because the two european organizations wich combine the representation of almost all the train drivers, understand that it is time to give greater strength to the trade union movement in Europe.

The strength of the ALE member unions, together with the support provided by the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CESI), has made it possible to initiate a collaborative process, equally with ETF, that leads us to strengthen and improve social, labor and economic conditions for the train drivers, ensuring adequate training standards and that are to achieve the great objective of ensuring greater safety in the rail system through the Just Culture.

At a time of change, due to the transposition of the 4th Railway Package, we have to focus our efforts on getting European institutions to see, now more than ever, that train drivers are united, regardless of the organization to which they belong, and that we will continue working for the welfare of our collective.

ALE – Board of Directors September

ALE – Board of Directors September

by | Sep 24, 2019 | News

On September 19 and 20, the Board of Directors of the European Train Drivers Union was held in Madrid, Spain.
In it, the President of ALE, Juan Jesús García Fraile, has talked and discussed the course of our Organization, the present and future challenges that arise in the short term.
Safety and Liberalization of passenger transport by rail have been the main topics of debate.
Many times we have remarked that Safety in Railways focuses our efforts and once again we, all the ALE member unions, jointly emphasize that an adequate transposition of the 4th Railway Package must be made, where the Safety Directive takes a vital relevance for the representation of the traindrivers in Europe.
We have marked the line to follow and proposed different actions both at European and national level, always keeping in mind the improvement of the working, social and economic conditions of the traindrivers.