A study commended by the European commission on safe and secure parking areas and published on the EC website on Friday the 11 April recommends amendments to the Mobility Package ‘allowing rest periods in SSPA’s and exploring options for making SSPA’s mandatory for certain rest periods, if no hotel is chosen. This, along with the possibility for the EU Commission to explore allowing drivers to take their regular rest in the cabins if parked on an SSPA. The latter, the study says, ‘would provide greater flexibility and may be feasible to implement provided that drivers are parked in a SSPA where they feel secure and there is access to essential amenities’. This, in the context where there is a huge shortage of safe and secure parking areas across Europe. The ETF has not been consulted at any stage of the study, hence the delusional nature of the study recommendations.
The ETF considers this a blatant attack to the wellbeing of truck drivers who currently, by law, can be made to spend as long as three weeks in a row in their trucks. No wonder the sector faces the deepest labour shortage in modern days! No youngster wants to spend 3 weeks away from home, sleeping in a bunkbed less than 90cms wide, night after night, most of the time next to a busy road or motorways, since SSPAs are so scarce.
Both the methodology of the study and the content of the report raise serious concerns. The study claims input from approximately 1,400 stakeholders on topics such as parking, rest facilities, and infrastructure across the EU. However, not a single trade union was included among these stakeholders – a glaring and unacceptable omission, particularly given the central role unions play in representing professional drivers. While the study notes that over 900 drivers were interviewed, ETF questions the representativeness of this sample. None of our European members were contacted, leading us to question the credibility and inclusivity of the data collection process.
The study highlights a lack of overnight facilities close to the parking areas and notes that existing accommodations often fail to meet drivers’ budgets or specific needs. At the same time, it suggests that professional drivers’ rest periods may negatively impact hotel guests seeking a “tranquil and leisure-focused environment.” One is left to wonder whether hotel guests were consulted while trade unions were entirely overlooked. The inclusion of such a perspective in a Commission-funded study is deeply troubling. Among the recommendations is the proposal that drivers continue to take rest periods in their vehicle cabins, following legal changes under the Mobility Package. This recommendation is presented as an improvement in driver conditions – a claim ETF finds unconvincing.
Despite being over 100 pages long, the report fails to provide viable solutions for improving the working and resting conditions of professional drivers through the provision of appropriate facilities. ETF finds this study fundamentally flawed and urges that it not be considered a serious basis for policymaking.
We remind that the ban on the rest in the vehicle and the so-called ‘driver return home’ were provisions of the Mobility Package initiated by the European Commission itself, with the intention to put an end to one of the most exploitative practices in the industry – before the adoption of the package thousands of Central and Eastern European truck drivers were on European roads for 6 to 9 months – and to foster a better work life balance.
The appalling way in which long-distance truck drivers were treated during the pandemic caused a massive skill drain in road haulage, and unfortunately made room for a second wave of social dumping in road, this time having 3rd country drivers at its core. Most of them have no domicile on the EU territory, where to go to, to spend their weekly rest. They are basically stuck to their lorries from the moment they take charge of them, until the time they have to leave the EU. Their living and working conditions are a sham for Europe, and yet again a cause for unfair competition for those operators that comply with the law.
The ETF road conference of 15 April dedicated a large section to this topic, and thus we call for the European Commission to stand firm by the Mobility Package and to publicly confirm this.
Every activity comes with some costs! Road transport has long been the pauper of European economy. We all need to pull efforts together – social partners, EU institutions, national enforcers – to revive the sector and make it a place one wants to work and operate.