On 21 March 2019 the ETF affiliates organising tug workers met in London for the Tug Network meeting. Representatives from Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia and United Kingdom gathered to discuss the challenges facing the sector, whcih include excessive competition, automatisation, new contract models and the requirements for a level playing field in the European tug sector.
The Fair Tugging campaign, organised in the framework of the ETF Fair Transport Campaign, aims to fight for safety and counter the race to the bottom in working conditions for tug workers.
Anna Maria Darmanin, Secretary General of European Tugowners Association (ETA) addressed the meeting. We then had a constructive debate, exploring possibilities for future dialogue between ETF and ETA.
The participants committed to strenghten their coordination even more by exchanging further information about the local situations and meeting companies’ managements together.