Building on its role as the officially recognised representative of road transport employers’ at the European Union level, IRU assumed today the chairmanship of EU’s road transport SSD Committee and nominated Ms Florence Berthelot, General Delegate of the French National Federation of Road Transport (FNTR), as chair.
“The social partnership between ETF and IRU, who alternately preside the SSD Committee, is crucially important to help improving social and operational framework conditions for drivers and companies in the EU. We are very pleased that Florence Berthelot will lead the SSD Committee, with her successful experience of cooperating with trade unions in France,” said IRU General Delegate to the EU, Matthias Maedge.
With one-fifth of European commercial driver positions remaining unfilled and women making up only 2% of the sector, driver shortage is one of the key challenges for our industry. IRU therefore recalls the urgency to take action at the European level to attract new talent and promote a more inclusive image of the industry. Other areas of cooperation include:
- enforcement of social rules
- quality of working conditions
- further development of safe and secure parking infrastructure
- and facilitation of access to the profession for drivers.
“The social sector dialogue is one of the main pillars of the European Union construct. I am honoured to have been chosen to preside over the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee on road transport,” said Ms Berthelot. “At a time when the issues facing us are of vital importance for companies and employees of the sector, we must remain a united source of proposals for European decision makers,” she added.