Today two hundred BTB shop stewards gathered in Blankenberge for the closure days of four years of union training.

I addressed the shop stewards in my opening speech, wich you can read below.

 

Welcome comrades,

Before you stands a proud President
As President, I am proud to find myself
In front of 200 BTB activists in this hall
200 militants who have undergone 4 years of training

This means, comrades, that you have all completed 20 days of training.
On various subjects
This training has enabled you to do your job as a trade unionist even better

And it’s true, comrades,
The better trained you are – the better armed you are
to take on the employers.
Because knowledge is power

You all have mandates in Committees of Safety and Work Councils
This mandate is not easy to carry out
In front of you you have employer representatives
who are shrewd, who have degrees, and who can afford lawyers.
Which costs a lot of money.
Employer representatives who often have no social reflex.

And very often we have colleagues who are grateful to us.
When we are succesful
But we also often have colleagues
Who look at us with great expectations
And from time to time with unrealistic expectations

In this context, you have the onerous task of achieving social progress.

 

So your mandate is not an easy one
Fulfilling a mandate is difficult
You’ve taken the time and energy to follow trainings.
And today, I’d like to thank you for that.
And tomorrow, on Friday, you will receive your certificate,
Your diploma
And you can be proud of it!

Comrades,
You are, as it were, the elite troops of the BTB
Our best shop stewards who attended four years of formation
Also during COVID
Even online

So it is time today to thank you
Not just for deployment in training
But also for your union struggle
your commitment to colleagues every day
You took every problem that came on your plate seriously
Any attempt by employers to curtail your rights was stopped

Let’s hear an applause for yourselves!

But this was also made possible by our trainers
By the trainers of ABVV-Metaal in Flanders
And from Cepag in Wallonia
They too have given their best for four years
And they will do so for the next two days as well
So they too deserve our thanks.
Applause for them

Comrades,
We face a big, important challenge this year
In May, we have social elections
And then we also get a diploma
Our colleagues-workers can vote
And will pronounce on which union
has worked best over the past four years.

And the challenge for BTB is:
Do we remain the largest union in the industry?
Last time we jumped over ACV Transcom
May will show whether we still have the confidence of transport workers
Whether each of you worked well and whether your co-workers think you did a good job.

I don’t know how you guys look at it, but I am confident that BTB will be successful, that you will win these elections.

For indeed: we did do a good job over the past four years
And the transportation workers know that.

And comrades,
We can be quite proud of all we have accomplished over the past few years.

If during and after the covid crisis, wages remained at level
And the index was fully applied,
This was thanks to the pressure and struggle of the FGTB and of BTB.

If minimum wages were raised by the government
Then this is thanks to the struggle of the FGTB and the BTB

If the government raised the minimum pensions,
Then again, this is thanks to us, the FGTB, the BTB.

Because comrades
We as BTB can be proud of that, too.

Every time the FGTB decides to mobilize and to take action
Then we will be there.
And our mobilization force is strong.
Because time and time again, proportionately many BTB shop stewards have been mobilized
We may be the smallest federation in the FGTB
We are the strongest when it comes to mobilization.

A big thanks for that too.

But also in our sectors
We have done a good job comrades

Who created the new job classification
For truckers in road transport?
It’s thanks to the BTB that we have obtained a classification adapted to the current situation, and we have even obtained wage adjustments for many drivers with this new classification.
And ACV Transcom was nowhere to be found when it came to applying pressure and win your case.

Who took action when our bus drivers were mugged ?
We are the ones who fought for more respect for drivers
And to put pressure on employers for more preventive measures
To avoid insults, physical and psychological aggression, …
And again I ask you
Where was ACV Transcom?
We are the ones who took action.

Who has been campaigning for more and better parking lots for truckers and coach drivers? For more parking spaces, clean parking lots, and especially safe parking lots for truckers and coach drivers?

Who is in the front row in the fight against social dumping?
Who published black books to wake up public opinion and politicians and demand action?

Who denounced the abuses in parcel services with concrete facts and figures? Who supplied the facts against the exploitation of post.nl and DPD and GLS?

Who, comrades, is defending employment at the airports and fighting for the renewal of the operating license, that is, for the employment of handlers?

To each of those questions comrades, there is only one answer!
It is us
It is the BTB
And we should dare to be proud of that!

We did the hard union work comrades,
And ACV Transcom ran after us,
If they didn’t get in our way already!

Comrades, I ask you to dare to explain that to your colleagues.
Be proud of what your union realized,
Be proud of what you yourself realized at company level.

And with that results list, we can’t help but regain the confidence of transport workers in May.

We still have a good three months to campaign
We still have three months to prepare for the final sprint
I urge you to confidently run that campaign

Because BTB is equivalent to
Strong Work
BTB
Is frankly strong.

 

Today I spoke at the workshop “What social Europe do we want?” organized by the ABVV. Read the full speech below.

 

Comrades,

First of all, I would like to inform you that BTB, has published a memorandum in response to the many elections coming up this year. In it we give our vision of how the political world can help us achieve “fair transportation.”

A good portion of what is described in this memorandum is about Europe. By the way, this memorandum also includes ETF’s manifesto, in which our European transport union lists the priorities for fair transport.

Our BTB memorandum contains many proposals that can and must only be realized at the European level. I often say that 85% of the rules that apply in the transport sector are set at European level or even global level.

Of the elections coming up this year, these are an absolute priority battleground for the European Parliament!

After all, the right, the far right and the extreme right threaten to become stronger in these elections, and I can give you a piece of paper: that is not in the interest of the working population, that is not in the interest of our members, and that is certainly not in the interest of the (transport) workers. So we must mobilize as a union to strengthen the progressive forces in Europe, and for BTB these are those parties that have helped us in the past period to enforce progressive emphases in Europe.

The examples of how important the European battleground is are legion.
It will not surprise you that I mention social dumping as one of the essential issues at the European level.
Twice, the status of our dockworkers has been under attack from Europe, through proposals contained in Port Package 1 and 2. The European mobilizations that we organized were twice successful.
If today there are European rules on social dumping in road transport, it is because of trade union mobilization, and because we had friends in the European Parliament who helped us push these rules through. Kathleen Van Brempt and Astrid Jongerius spring to mind. The mobility package was a bad proposal from the committee. Trade union action ensured that it became an acceptable compromise with many union accents.

So a first message I want to give is that we as a union should be less ambiguous about Europe. Just because we are against the policy that the committee is pursuing today does not mean that we should be against Europe.
The European idea, the European construction has provided peace in Europe for 79 years. Moreover, it is not only an insurance against internal war, but also a guarantee of economic resistance in the geopolitical field. How could a small country like Belgium hold its own in the globalizing world against the super-aggressive politics of – say – China?

By the way, I am not so sure that our British comrades are so happy about their Brexit.

But I’m sure our truckers don’t want to go back to the good old days when they needed 26 different currencies when driving internationally. Let alone had to face 26 different mountains of paper in terms of administrative and border formalities, not to mention the long waits at the borders. The same goes for aviation, inland navigation, etc. The saying “things were better in the past” is simply wrong, and we must dare to say that as a union.

But we should also have the courage to say that today’s Europe is not the kind of Europe we want. In the ETF manifesto we clearly state that Europe did not respond correctly to the social, economic and political challenges of today, and on the contrary, has bet on liberalization, privatization, deregularization. And that has reinforced the distrust of working people towards that distant – and in their eyes bureaucratic – Europe. And count on populists to capitalize on that.

It is up to us to put another Europe on the map. And that will require more European commitment from the unions.

You know that I wrote a book entitled “The world is ours”. In it I argue for more international trade union engagement. So we also need to make Europe “ours.”

And when Miranda Ulens, our general secretary, recently warned in a Facebook message – quite rightly, by the way – about the new austerity policies that are rearing their heads in Europe, we have to ask ourselves why there were so few FGTB members present at our December 12, 2023 demonstration?

Those who today advocate for another Europe, they must work for it in concrete terms. And that means mobilizing our members and militants for another Europe when the chips are down. And just as we never got anything just like that, we will have to fight for it. If we do not engage with Europe, Europe will not fail to engage with us. And if we don’t fight for our share, our members will foot the bill at the end. And so comrades, next time Ester Lynch calls for a European mobilization, we will have to do more and better.

Comrades, allow me to get a little more specific.

If there is one area where I want more Europe, it is in the area of enforcement. What good are European rules if half of Europe wipes its pants on them? What is the benefit of having a good mobility package if it is not applied?

What is the benefit of having a European Labour Authority if it is a paper tiger? This European Labour Authority was created by European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen at the time. We hoped that this would become a kind of embryo for a European Social Inspectorate. Today it appears that the ELA is to be given much more and stronger powers. The inspections they carry out today are no more than symbolic and are always announced in advance. And even then they catch almost 67% offenders when they go hunting with the fanfare in front.

Meanwhile, unscrupulous fraud continues in road transport: Over the past six months, the Belgian Federal Police has fined more than 85% of the Eastern European drivers inspected during truck checks on the highways in the province of Liège for violating driving and rest periods and the return rules of the EU mobility package. A total of nearly 700 checks were carried out, with violations found in 596 cases. For example, 112 drivers from Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania had not been home for three months or more, while 136 drivers had been on the road on Western European roads for more than two months. Another nearly 70% (412 drivers) had not observed the mandatory weekend rest outside the cab.
Since summer 2023, Belgian police have been randomly checking Eastern European trucks on highways for compliance with the EU mobility package. This resulted in nearly 1.4 million euros in fines last year.

Just recently, BTB provided the inspection services with the coordinates of a whole row of “Christmas parking lots” where drivers had to leave their trucks when they went to their home countries – usually Eastern Europe – for the holidays. The fact that the vehicle was left here and then picked up here to start work again shows that they are covered by the Belgian collective bargaining agreement “Equal pay for equal work” and thus must be employed under Belgian wage and working conditions. So there is still a lot of work to be done.
But in the Netherlands there are hardly any checks on compliance with the EU mobility package. So it is high time for more powers for ELA, for more controls, and for tougher enforcement.
We also have skewed situations in the maritime sector, for example. Belgian officers in the merchant navy sailing under the Cypriot, Maltese and Italian flags are refused affiliation by the social security systems of the countries concerned. Actually, they are thus obliged to work “in the black.” So the European Commission is apparently less lenient when it comes to the enforceability of European budgetary rules than when it comes to the correct application of its own social regulations.

But the principals of transports must also take responsibility. Large multinationals such as IKEA, DHL, … should not pretend not to know what is happening in their transport chain. Last year, Eastern European truckers went on strike twice. They put their trucks aside because they had been squeezed like lemons for months. The strikes in Gräfenhausen were news all over Europe. The drivers were striking against their Polish employers. And in the end they won, getting their back wages paid in full. But what did it turn out? That those shadowy Polish transport firms were driving in subcontracting for big players like Ikea, Volkswagen, DHL, LKW Walter, Sennder and CH Robinson.
BTB and ETF thus suggest that in Europe we go full steam ahead with the introduction of “corporate responsibility,” the liability of the prime client. Strengthening due diligence laws and making them applicable to the chain within the EU. Introducing effective chain liability in the transport sector, which also applies to wage debts and is retroactive.
Finally, I would like to make a plea for supporting politicians who dare to stick their necks out in the European Parliament. For example, BTB fully supports Kathleen Van Brempt’s proposal to work on a European port strategy. The strategic importance of our ports and port infrastructure is essential for the Belgian economy, and thus for employment in Belgium. The Port of Antwerp is the first economic hub in Belgium. However, concerns about foreign interference in our ports are real.

China is using its economic power and maritime sector to gain increasing influence in critical infrastructure in Europe. In countless ports throughout the European Union, we see the influence of foreign powers and China in particular growing. From the port of Piraeus in Greece, where two-thirds of the shares are owned by the Chinese state-owned COSCO Shipping, to the ports of Hamburg and Zeebrugge, where the same COSCO owns part of the terminal.
And I don’t think, comrades, that we want to import the Chinese model of state capitalism here in Belgium. That is why I am making an appeal here today to heed Kathleen’s call – supported by the European Parliament – to wake up the commission and take action to safeguard the interests of Europe, and of European workers.

 

I had the honor to speak at the Amazon summit in Manchester. Read my full statement below.

If I have to give an introduction this morning, I will do it as the president of the European Transport Workers’ Federation.

We organise 5 million members  from 38 counties in Europe.

They are affiliated to 200 unions

I am telling this because it is important to know that my introduction will be from a trade union perspective.

And if I talk about a trade union perspective, it means the perspective of working people.

A lot of them working in precarious jobs, or jobs that are not the jobs where one has a royal income.

For a lot of them at the end of the salary there is still a bit of the month to come…

And even if a lot of these members have low quality jobs, they are jobs that guarantee an income to families.

First I would like to comment about the slogan of this conference.

“Make Amazon pay!”

It is important that we know what this means for us.

Off course we have to blame Amazon!

Expose them because of exploiting their workers.

Because of not respecting them.

Because of creating a working environment that is not safe.

Because of imposing extreme flexibility to their workers.

Because of denying them the most basic right to organize.

Because of developing anti-union approach.

And because of having a business model, that is bad for the workers.

So yes, let us blame and shame Amazon for this!

But for us – ETF – this is not enough.

We think we must go beyond of a political campaign.

We think that the first and most important job of a union is

to make the life of the workers represent a better one.

And to do so, we need to organize them.

If we really want to change the business model of Amazon.

If we want to improve the situation of the workers that work for Amazon, we need to kick the door of this company open for unions.

We need to force this company to deal with trade unions. We need to make them understand that it is impossible to operate without social dialogue, without taking into account the aspirations of their workers.

We think that we must force Amazon to deal with us. To make agreements.

Agreements that regulate and improve the situation of the Amazon workers.

We all agree on the principle that Amazon, as any other company, should be held accountable for decent working conditions, the environmental and societal impact of its activities, as well as for paying taxes in the countries where it operates.

The central question is: how are we going to reach this objective?

For us at the ETF, it is clear:

We have to combine organizing and giving a strong voice to the workers, with gaining support from policy-makers at all levels’.

And yesterday we had a good example of how this can be done. The Italian unions and the former minister of labour explained us how they got the door to this company open.

Unions taking action, joining forces between the drivers and the warehouse workers of Amazon.

Putting pressure on the company and on those that are politically responsible.

A labour minister then forced Amazon to open the social dialogue with the unions.

And unions have been able to make an agreement that is a strong one.Including the Amazon workers AND their subcontractors.

An agreement that is so strong that workers from other companies are willing to come to work for Amazon now. Because there was a “before” and there is an “after” agreement situation.

The Italian unions did not limit themselves  to go for “shaming and blaming”.

They went for organizing.

They went for industrial action.

They also did political lobbying and forced Amazon to deal with them. And that is exactly what we want to promote as ETF.

It is a good example of how it is possible with a well elaborated trade union strategy having different irons in the fire to make the difference.

And this example is an interesting one, because it also demonstrates that we can do it.

Off course Amazon is a symbol, but the supply chain is more than this one company.

At ETF we really are convinced that we have to go beyond this one company.

Amazon is often seen as a special company, and it is true that its business model has been disruptive to many of our sectors.

But many transport companies, in all sectors covered by ETF,  can’t be defined as easy ones, when it comes to sitting at the negotiating table.

However, in many cases we have forced them to engage with us, after long political and industrial action.

We are familiar with difficult companies.

Remember Ryanair!

The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’ Leary, was telling us 10 years ago that it would rather freeze in hell before he would recognize unions!

And you know what?

Today we have agreements with Ryanair in different countries.

Because we forced them to…

So Amazon might be special, but again, not that special

There are many similar companies in Europe.  One of them is the Danish nemlig.com

It is, or I should say it was, a copycat of Amazon on Danish level.

Same business model! Subcontracting as a business model. No union recognition, no respect of the CBA’s, …

But our Danish affiliate did fight back.

Posting for months in front of the company

Mobilizing workers for solidarity actions. Lobbying politicians.

Addressing the clients, …

And yes, after a long battle nemlig.com signed a collective agreement with our member 3F.

By the way: yesterday I heard the panel about “last mile delivery”.

In our opinion – whatever we think about last mile delivery – it is naive to think that this will disappear on the short and even long run.

Let us be honest: we all do order on internet! We all – from time to time – do go for home delivery.

Maybe some of you don’t, by principle, and that is very OK. But let’s face it:

the amount of people that do, is enormous, and this will not disappear because we think it is not the right way.

Our challenge as a trade union then is:

What do we do?

Shouting loud and clear that this is a sector where people are exploited, but leaving the workers of these companies on their own?

Standing at the sideline and fighting against these companies? But in the same time not doing our job as trade unions?

Hoping that everybody goes shopping to the local supermarket or local bakery, like the speaker from Paris suggested?

Just a sidenote: in a lot of these supermarkets and local shops the working conditions of the workers are not the best ones neither!

Or do we organize the workers of these companies?

Giving them a voice.

Giving them power by organizing them, and then all together with them going after the companies.

To change their business model.

To impose better wages.

To have safety at the job.

Our strategy as ETF is exactly to do so.

ETF develops a strategy to challenge the logistics sector. Having in mind our first duty: making the life of the workers in the supply chain better.

We wrote down and discussed a “Logistics Manifesto” about how we want to deal with logistic companies.

I pick up only one of the points that we highlight in this manifesto:

“We demand for an end to the systematic use of outsourcing, agency work and other precarious forms of work.

Decent work can only be achieved by bringing core business operations in-house.

Subcontracting chains must be shortened and made transparent in order to protect the safety and working conditions of workers from unscrupulous employers.

Common EU rules are needed to deter illegitimate subcontracting and protect workers.”

We have 5 of these guidelines about logistic work in this manifesto, because we think we have to go for better income for the workers that operate in the sector

To go for better working circumstances.

To go for cutting in the possibilities of subcontracting.

To give decent contracts to the logistic workers.

To go for safety at the job

This manifesto is kind of guideline for our affiliates willing to go for organizing logistic workers.

If you want to learn more about this manifesto: see our ETF website.

With this manifesto in the hand, we also started up an action program.

Since the beginning of October we organized actions in different countries all over Europe. In Belgium, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany, the UK, Sweden, were already organised

Still coming are France, Norway, Slovakia, Turkey, Bulgaria and even Ukraine.

And we are determined to continue our efforts to organize the logistic workers.

Because unions never obtained anything by just kindly asking for it.

Every single step forward for the workers, we realized by fighting for it,

And that ,Brothers and Sisters, is exactly what we will do!

Mercredi 11 octobre 2023 j’ai eu l’honneur de faire un discours au Congrès du FEETS-FO à Toulouse. FEETS-FO est la Fédération de l’Equipement, de l’Environnement, des Transports et des Services Force Ouvrière en France. Vous pouvez lire ci-dessous l’intégralité de mon discours.

Chers camarades,

En tant que Président de l’ETF je vous apporte les salutations les plus fraternelles de 5 millions d’affiliés. Appartenant à 200 organisations syndicales en 38 pays de l’Europe. 

Je dois aussi excuser Livia Spera, notre secrétaire générale qui aurait voulu être parmi nous. Mais elle est appelée à d’autres devoirs. Nous avons dû repartir le travail, elle et moi, et je suis heureux de pouvoir représenter notre ETF.

C’est un honneur pour moi, d’être parmi vous.

 Feets-FO est particulièrement actif au niveau international et je voudrais donc saisir le moment de vous remercier pour votre engagement au niveau international à l’ETF et à l’ITF.

Plus particulièrement dans la personne de Laurent LeFloch

Mais aussi par votre engagement dans les sections de l’ETF, et à l’ITF.

Mais quand je vois la dynamique de vos débats,

Les activités que vous déployez dans de nombreux secteurs.

Quand je vois la conviction syndicale, je veux vous inviter à vous engager encore d’avantage.

A l’ETF nous avons besoin de syndicats qui veulent marquer la différence. De syndicats qui veulent faire bouger des choses

Ausons le dire, de syndicats qui rêvent de changer le monde, et qui travaillent jours après jour pour le faire. 

Camarades, le discours de votre secrétaire général hier était tellement inspirant, motivant, … Et tellement juste que c’est difficile d’y ajouter beaucoup.

Mais, permettez-moi de faire le topo de quelques défis avec lesquels nous sommes confrontés au niveau Européen, et donc des défis que l’ETF et l’ITF ont à affronter.

Évidemment il y a le défi climatique qui est particulièrement problématique au niveau global, et donc aussi pour les travailleurs du secteur du transport,

Je ne pense pas que je dois encore vous convaincre des conséquences du réchauffement de la terre, et des conséquences que cela à partout dans le monde. 

Bien qu’il y a certains politiciens qui relativisent l’impact du réchauffement climatique, nous vivons tous cet impact. 

Les incendies partout dans le monde, de la Grèce au Canada, via l’Espagne, …

La montée du niveau de la mer, qui risque de faire disparaître des îles entières dans la mer, et de mettre en péril nos côtes … La qualité de l’air qui met en danger la santé de la population,

Les problèmes sont réels et des solutions doivent être développées.

Et si nous parlons des secteurs du transport, nous savons que nous faisons partie du problème. 

L’industrie dans laquelle nous travaillons est particulièrement polluante. 

Le transport de marchandises par route par exemple, mais aussi le secteur de  l’aviation, sont des plus polluants. 

Nous savons qu’une partie de notre industrie sera concernée si nous voulons apporter des solutions durables. 

Toute la question est de savoir qui payera le prix de la transition.  Les travailleurs ou les pollueurs? Ceux qui travaillent dans nos secteurs, ou ceux qui ont fait du profit pendant des années?

Nous devons interpeller les employeurs d’investir dans des technologies durables.

Nous devons nous battre pour avoir des garanties que nos affiliés gardent leur emploi. Nous devons mettre pression sur les politiques pour que des mesures justes et sociales soient prises.

Et n’est il pas juste de demander que les plus riches payent d’avantage de taxes pour financer la transition?

Et il faut savoir que nous avons aussi une partie de la solution dans nos secteurs.Il faudra des investissements dans le transport en commun. Puisqu’un transport public efficace et abordable pour les utilisateurs est une des réponses à la problématique climatique.

Mais cela veut dire aussi que nous devons nous battre contre la privatisation et la libéralisation du rail et du transport public dans nos villes.

Plaider pour la durabilité, et en même temps privatiser et libéraliser est une contradiction que nous ne pouvons pas accepter.

Parlons aussi de la digitalisation et de l’automatisation. La révolution digitale que nous vivons de nos jours va de plus en plus vite. La numérisation et l’Intelligence artificielle ont un impact énorme sur nos secteurs du transport.

 La « gig économie » a boulversé nos secteurs. De grandes entreprises comme Amazon dans le secteur de la logistique,

Uber dans le secteur des taxis, Deliveroo, dans la livraison de repas, … imposent un business model inacceptable.

Ils ne considèrent leurs collaborateurs non comme des employés, mais comme des indépendants,imposent une flexibilité à outrance et fuient toute responsabilité en cas d’accident de travail, ou autre.

Nous pensons que nous devons combattre le modèle que ces sociétés essayent de nous imposer, mais nous sommes aussi convaincus que nous ne devons pas laisser les gens qui travaillent pour ces sociétés sans protection.

A nous d’organiser ceux qui sont exploités par ces nouveaux joueurs dans le monde du transport.

A nous d’organiser le combat, aussi chez Uber, Bolt, Deliveroo et Amazon.

Et je suis heureux de constater que FO participe au réseau de Just Eat/Takeaway crée par l’ETF

Camarades,

Je suis extrêmement préoccupé par la montée du populisme et de l’ampleur que des parties de l’extrème droite prennent. 

Je sais que je ne dois pas vous convaincre, vous les Français, de ce danger, avec Marine le Pen du Rassemblement National qui, à chaque élection, risque de prendre plus de pouvoir. 

Je me rappelle le défi moral que beaucoup d’entre vous ont eu, quand ils devaient voter soit pour Le Pen, soit pour Macron lors du deuxième tour des dernières éléctions présidentielles. 

Et dans des pays avec une tradition sociale-démocrate, comme la Finlande, la Suède … l’extrême droite participe aujourd’hui au pouvoir. 

Tout comme en Italie ou l’extrême droite a pris le leadership du gouvernement avec Giorgia Meloni comme premier ministre.

Donc ma question est bien simple, camarades:

Est-ce que nous allons laisser passer?

Ou est-ce que nous allons nous battre?

Il faut se mobiliser, camarades.

Il faut se battre contre cette dérive à droite.

Et ne nous trompons pas, camarades,

La première chose que les nazi on fait,

Quand ils avaient le pouvoir, le 2 mai 1933, Hitler a dissous les syndicats allemands, confisqué leurs biens, et il a commencé à emprisonner les leaders syndicaux.

L’extrême droite essaie de séduire la classe ouvrière avec un discours de haine, de division et d’exclusion.

Il ne faut pas se tromper!

Ne pas se faire piéger par leur discours d’exclusion.

Leur discours de division.

Leur discours de hain.

Leur discours raciste!

Souvenons nous de Jean Jaurès, camarades. Il nous disait:

Il n’y a qu’une race,

C’est l’humanité! C’est pour cette même raison que l’ETF a proposé de faire du 8 mai une journée de commémoration et de congé collectif au niveau européen.

Le 8 mai est la fin de la deuxième guerre mondiale, et donc la victoire de la démocratie sur le nazisme.

Avec les élections européennes devant la porte, l’ETF a décidé de mener une campagne active. Nous voulons propager nos priorités vis-à-vis du monde politique,

Il faut convaincre les partis politiques et leurs candidats de soutenir notre vision sur le monde du transport. Parce que si le parlement européen et le conseil  capotent vers plus de droite, voir extrême droite, cela ne promet pas beaucoup de bien pour les travailleurs que nous représentons. 

C’est aussi pour cela que l’ETF appelle à une participation massive à la manifestation organisée par la Confédération Européenne des syndicats le 13 décémbre à Bruxelles.

Une manifestation contre l’austérité qui se dessine déjà dans la politique de la commission. Une manifestation contre l’obsession à la privatisation et la libéralisation de la Commission,

Une manifestation pour une Europe plus sociale qui garantie un soccle de protection sociale pour tous les travailleurs en Europe!

J’espère voir les drapeaux de Force Ouvrière bien présents dans les rues de Bruxelles le 13 décembre prochain!

Camarades, les grands pas en avant dans le mouvement ouvrier ont toujours été réalisés par la lutte syndicale

Nous n’avons jamais rien obtenu en le demandant gentiment. Nous avons dû nous battre 

Et c’est exactement ce que nous devons continuer à faire.

Ensemble!

En France!

En Europe!

Et au niveau mondial!

Parce que… ensemble nous sommes plus forts!

Today I spoke as ETF – European Transport Workers’ Federation president at the ETUC congress “Together for a fair deal for workers”.

Read my full speech below.

I am happy to be here in Berlin, in Germany, and having the opportunity  to take the floor as ETF president.

This congress is organized here at 588 km from a parking area where history was written. In Gräfenhausen 70 drivers from Georgia and Uzbekistan went on strike against their polish employers who exploited them and who didn’t even pay their salaries.

It is historical, because for the first time in the transport sector third country workers in Europe striked against exploitation. And they had the full support of the European Transport Workers’ Federation, and our member organisation Ver-di.

And you know what: they did won the strike and received their salaries worth all together over 300.000€. This is a major victory for unionism and a good illustration that there is an alternative for the race to the bottom in our economies.

If only we fight back, ff only we organize, if only we open the door of our unions also to workers from abroad working in our countries.

We have to celebrate our victories!

I invite you all to give a big for a round of applause for these courageous drivers!

During this strike the polish employers mobilized a private militia to break the strike! They failed. That is an assault on our democratic right to strike. Techniques that are popular in far right organisations.

Because let’s admit it: far right is growing! And if they do not wear boots marching in the streets, they do wear fancy suits an shirts. They are participating in governments in different countries in Europe.

Wake up, brothers and sisters! Fascism is back, seducing also the workers we represent with a false narrative.

So let’s mobilize against far right. I wear the red triangle on my vest, a symbol of resistance against fascism, racism, exclusion, … That is also why ETF gives full support for campaigning to make the 8th of May, the day of victory of democracy over nazism in 1945, a public holiday all over Europe.

Because we have to remember and we have to defend democracy. Against far right.

No passaran!

Today I had the honor to speech at the congress of the Nordic Transport Workers’ Federation.

You can read my full speech below.

Brothers and Sisters,

Dear friends,

Comrades,

Today I am glad to be here with you, the Scandinavian unions that are members of ETF .

It is an honour for me to speak at your congress and to tell you that I am a proud ETF President.

Proud of what the ETF has accomplished since the Barcelona and Budapest congresses in 2017 and 2022.

Proud of the transition ETF has gone through so far.

Because, let’s admit it.  Before the Barcelona congress ETF had become too much of a lobby group, too much of a bureaucracy, and too selforiented.

It was time to make a radical change, turning ETF over in a dynamic and strong counterforce in Europe.

And yes, I am proud of what a strong and efficient organisation the ETF has become.

And all of this was realized thanks to the strong support from you, from the Scandinavian unions.

The strong support from NTF.

NTF is one of the strong holders within ETF.

There is a very strong commitment of the NTF unions, in all sectors in which you are active, and I hope this will set an example for other unions all over Europe.

We can only encourage this because ETF needs more active and engaging unions like yours!

So I would like to take this opportunity to really put the spot light on the role of the Nordic unions within the ETF.

I do not exaggerate when I underline that we would not have a mobility package like we have now, without the strong commitment of the Nordics.

I do not exaggerate when I underline how crucial your role has been up to now in the discussions about platform work.

And don’t we forget how important your role was in the Fair Transport Campaign.

The NTF affiliates were deeply engaged in this ETF campaign.

Unions in Sweden, Finland and Denmark managed to collect more than 50.000 signatures during the campaign, and were – together with my own union – the goal getters in that campaign.

We, in the rest of Europe know, that when it comes to sustainability, we have a lot to learn from the Nordic countries.

You always seem to be one step ahead of the rest of Europe when it comes to ecology and sustainability.

And of course within ETF we appreciate the Nordic pressure for decent living conditions for the transport workers, for example in the Ikea global transport chain or in the struggle with Nemlig.com.

Stephen Cotton was clear about the challenges we face on a global level.

Still, I would like to emphasize the solid link ETF has today with ITF and the importance of a strong European voice within ITF.

There was a time that the communication and coordination amongst ITF and ETF were not what they should have been.

Together with Livia Spera, our GS, and with the full support of Steve, we were able to change this fundamentally.

Today, we are working together, we coordinate, we talk with each other, and we are stronger that way. 

Because for you, the affiliates, this is what makes sense. 

But we cannot deny that within ITF, other parts of the world are growing stronger. 

Which is good news. There is an increase of membership of unions in South East Asia, in Africa and in the Arab world, … And there is a relative decline in membership in Europe.

But more worrying is that some of the European affiliates are not enough engaged in ITF.

It is my ambition to ensure that the voice of the European unionscontinues to sound loud enough to be heard in our global organisation.

We must speak with one European voice and give our full support to the strategy the General Secretary of ITF has worked out up to congress and for the next years to come.

That’s why I think Europe should give Steve full support for his re-election.

Brothers and sisters, I want to share with you a very big concern. It is the growth of far right and populism all over Europe.

Far right is back! Much more dangerous than ever before.  If they don’t wear boots marching in the streets, they do wear fancy 3 piece suits, nice shirts and ties. And they became more and more arrogant and influential. 

Extreme right is gaining more and more power in Europe. In different countries in Europe.

Also here, in Finland and in Sweden for example.

Far right political parties try to clean up their image and succeed in becoming part of the  government. Far right pretends to defend the workers’ rights, but we know better.

History learns us that once fascists have the power, they attack workers’ rights and they attack their unions.

They have to be stopped. We have to keep informing the workers of the dangers of extreme right, especially with the European elections coming up next year.

We have to do everything we can to avoid people from casting a vote for Far right out of dismay.

We have to raise awareness that there are other alternatives, our alternatives!

But therefore we have to be active, take initiatives. And I am sure we can count on your unions to turn these initiatives into a success.

That’s why, today, I’m wearing this red triangle on my vest. The symbol of the fight against fascism, racism and division.

That’s also why ETF is pleading for the 8th of May, the day that Nazi-Germany was defeated in 1945, to be a European holiday.

To end,  I would especially like to thank Jan Villadsen, current president of NTF, and also vice-president of ETF, for the good job he has done for NTF and ETF.

I hope that the collaboration with the next president of NTF will be as fruitful as this one has been.

And last but certainly not least, I want to congratulate Anu and her team for all the good work she has done as General Secretary of NTF.

And remember Brothers and sisters:

Divided we fall,

Together we are strong!