1. IMPROVING WORKING CONDITIONS IN INLAND WATER TRANSPORT
JORIS KERKHOFS
PRESIDENT, INLAND WATERWAYS SECTION
EUROPEAN TRANSPORT WORKERS’ FEDERATION - ETF
NATIONAL SECRETARY INLAND WATERWAYS
ACV-TRANSCOM, BELGIUM

2. EUROPEAN TRANSPORT WORKERS’ FEDERATION
AN INTERNATIONAL UNION ORGANISATION
230 Transport Unions from 41 European countries with over 5 million members Inland Waterways Section – members in: AT, BE, BG, CH, CZ, DE, FR, GB, HR, IT, LU, NL, PL, RO, RU, SE, UA Active in Sectoral Social Dialogue, CESNI, CASS Observer at Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine
JORIS KERKHOFS

3. ETF INLAND WATERWAYS SECTION
ACHIEVEMENTS AND WORK IN PROGRESS
WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE – 48 hour week respecting special situation 19/12/2014 DIRECTIVE ON RECOGNITION OF PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS - enhances labour mobility TASCS - Towards a Sustainable Crewing System – workload analysis, aiding pan- European manning requirements DIGITAL CONTROLS – modern, tamper-proof controls
JORIS KERKHOFS

4. ETF INLAND WATERWAYS SECTION
OUR CORE CONCERNS
LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS Too many old ships with poor working and living environment Noise, vibration, heat, poor ventilation - Environmentally damaging Social Isolation – Growing distance of terminals from city centres Poor image of the industry - Disincentive for new entrants
JORIS KERKHOFS

5. ETF INLAND WATERWAYS SECTION
OUR CORE CONCERNS
SOCIAL DUMPING - exploiting of EU’s freedoms Use of cheapest social security system and weakest labour protection legislation. Import of non-European labour for lower paid work. LEGAL UNCERTAINTY – Activities almost outside of legal systems as laws are «territorial» and unclear which legislation is applicable. LEX LOCI LABORIS undermined.
JORIS KERKHOFS

6. ETF INLAND WATERWAYS SECTION
THE WAY FORWARD
ESTABLISH A EUROPEAN INLAND WATERS REGIME FOR EMPLOYMENT Example of MLC in maritime transport Example of ILO Special Tripartite Conferences 1949 & 1954 bringing Rhine Agreements on Working Conditions and Social Sceurity A new Inland Waterways Tripartite Conference to establish a harmonised regime for determining labour and social security legislation
JORIS KERKHOFS

7. THANK YOU!
JORIS KERKHOFS