Annex 15 Labour Market Rail Transport

Background information for the study ‘Analysis of the

trends and prospects of jobs and working conditions in

transport'

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Contents

1 EU RAIL TRANSPORT LABOUR MARKET 5

1.1 Sub-modes and professions 5 1.2 Analytical framework 5

2 PESTLE-ANALYSIS ON EU RAIL TRANSPORT LABOUR MARKET 7

2.1 Political factors 7 2.2 Economic factors 13 2.3 Social factors 14 2.4 Technological factors 15 2.5 Legal factors 16 2.6 Environmental factors 20

3 EU RAIL TRANSPORT LABOUR MARKET TRENDS 21

3.1 Trends in demand 21 3.2 Trends in supply 28

4 DISCREPANCIES EU RAIL TRANSPORT LABOUR MARKET 31

4.1 Quantitative discrepancies 31 4.2 Qualitative discrepancies 34 4.3 Information asymmetries 41

5 REDUCTION OF DISCREPANCIES EU RAIL TRANSPORT LABOUR MARKET 43

5.1 Introduction 43 5.2 General solutions to discrepancies rail transport 43 5.3 Promoting inflow 44 5.4 Preventing outflow/ diminishing labour demand 44

6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 47

6.1 Sub-sectors and job types 47 6.2 Data and literature 48 6.3 Social dialogue 48 6.4 Railway undertakings and policies 49 6.5 Demand and supply of labour and skills 49 6.6 Attractiveness of working in the sector 51 6.7 Education, training and certification 52 6.8 Conclusions: bottlenecks and risks 53 6.9 Policy suggestions 53

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1 EU rail transport labour market

This is Annex 15 to the Analysis of the trends and prospects of jobs and working

conditions in transport, commissioned by JRC and conducted by Panteia in

cooperation with PwC Italy. The Annex contains both detailed information and

analyses on the specific transport mode - often distinguishing maritime and ports

- and the transport sector at large which allow the report to be read as a stand-

alone document along the main report.

This Annex covers the PESTLE-analysis, labour market trends, discrepancies in

the labour market, options to reduce the discrepancies and main findings. These

are treated in the consecutive chapters. The results of some specific research

steps and on specific topics are not included as they are presented en block in

the main report. This includes:

Detailed assessment of the relative job quality (Task 4);

Review of the human capital perspective aiming to draw a human capital map

for 2010 and 2020 of the EU transport sector (Task 5);

Findings targeted stakeholder consultation;

(Anecdotic) evidence on social dumping, cabotage and other social problems;

Lists of literature and internet sources.

The Annex does not aim to give a complete new overview of the labour market in

maritime transport but gives the findings as were anticipated during the

execution of the study. In itself labour market issues and its description are not

of static nature and would require continuous updating.

1.1 Sub-modes and professions

The rail transport labour market is analysed along the following four subsectors:

Infra-management;

Passenger;

Freight;

Urban rail.

The relevant job types in rail transport considered in this report are:

Drivers;

Rail operation professionals;

Attendants (passengers only);

Management;

Back-office;

Maintenance staff;

Engineers.

1.2 Analytical framework

The analytical framework that is applied in the study, comprises four

interconnected labour market models: flow model, discrepancies model, PESTLE-

analysis model and solutions model. It is presented in detail in Annex 1. On the

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basis of this analytical framework the research questions to be answered in this

study are formulated. This can be described as follows:

The external factors influencing the development of the labour market can be

identified by looking at six specific domains. The six dimensions are the

political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental dimension,

together PESTLE. These six different dimensions can influence the situation

on the transport labour market to a large extent, though some are obviously

more important than others. The PESTLE-model provides, so to speak, a

common language to describe the challenges faced by the different actors.

The EU transport labour market has a demand side and a supply side.

The demand for labour has a quantitative side (number of jobs) as well as a

qualitative side (requirements on workers) and is being influenced by the

specific (labour market) characteristics of the sector.

Likewise, the supply of labour has a quantitative side (number of potential

workers) as well as a qualitative side (characteristics of workers, e.g.

competences).

An ideal sectoral labour market knows completely balanced demand and

supply. In the real world, however, this is mostly not the case: labour

shortages and redundancies cause problems for market agents. Hence, at the

centre of this analysis of the EU transport labour market is the discrepancies

model: the EU transport labour market is analysed according to the three

characteristics of market functioning: (1) quantitative discrepancies, (2)

qualitative discrepancies and (3) information asymmetries due to lack of

transparency of the transport labour market.

The chapters in this Annex follow this structure, first the PESTLE analysis is

carried out. This is followed by description of supply and demand. This is

followed by a description of the discrepancies in the labour market. Thereafter

strategies to reduce discrepancies are discussed. The main conclusions and

recommendations at mode level are presented in the last chapter.

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2 PESTLE-analysis on EU rail transport labour

market

This section describes contextual factors influencing the EU rail transport labour,

the so-called PESTLE-factors: political, economic, social, technological, legal and

environmental factors. By differentiating into these elements of the PESTLE-

analysis a better and structured insight is obtained in the contextual factors.

2.1 Political factors

2.1.1 General context EU transport labour market

The following political factors play an important role for the EU transport labour

market as a whole:

EU Enlargement, Single Market and Market liberalisation: Transport

companies increasingly make use of more affordable labour from new

Member States and establish subsidiaries in those countries.

Remaining protectionism: Some Member States show in specific areas a

poor record of transposition and effectuation of EU market liberalisation

policy.

Integration of transport system: The EU’s political objective is to

transform the European transport system into an integrated, sustainable and

efficient mobility network.

Central role of social dialogue in EU transport labour market: Social

dialogue figures as a central instrument of governance in the transport labour

market in the European Union and its Member States. At EU-level Sectoral

Social Dialogue Committees play a central role.

Political priority of Life Long Learning (LLL): LLL helps employees to

adapt to the changing circumstances in and requirements of their respective

professions.

Europe 2020 and ‘Flexicurity’: Flexicurity consists of ensuring no longer a

job for life (‘job security’) but of ensuring ‘employment security’ thanks to

active employment policies and an appropriate safety net when one has lost

his/her employment.

Political priority of ecological focus: Emphasis on decarbonisation and

energy security leads to a modal shift and the introduction of alternative

energy and propulsion systems in transport means.

2.1.2 Specific context EU rail transport labour market

Market liberalisation

State of the art

Greater competition will help to create a more efficient and customer-responsive

industry. EU rail legislation has consistently encouraged competitiveness and

market opening, with the first major law in this direction dating back to 1991.

The legislation is based on a distinction between infrastructure managers who

run the network and the railway companies that use the infrastructure for

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transporting passengers or goods. Different organisational entities must be set

up for transport operations on the one hand and infrastructure management on

the other. Essential functions such as allocation of rail capacity (the ‘train paths’

that companies need to be able to operate trains on the network), infrastructure

charging and licensing must be separated from the operation of transport

services and performed in a neutral fashion to give new rail operators fair access

to the market. Moreover it must be guaranteed that public funds for the

infrastructure and for the payment of compensation for transport services under

public service obligations may not be used to finance transport operations other

than those for which the compensation was intended, in order to avoid

distortions of competition and an unfair use of public money.1

As well as encouraging greater competition within national markets, EU

legislation gives rail operators the ability to run services in and between other EU

countries, opening up competition in a cross-border sense. Rail freight transport

has been completely liberalised in the EU since 1 January 2007, for both national

and international services. This means that any licensed EU railway company

with the necessary safety certification can apply for capacity and offer national

and international freight services by rail throughout the EU. The liberalisation

increased competition and efficiency of the rail freight transport, new operators

entered the market and rail became better able to compete with other transport

modes. At the same time liberalisation has resulted in a greater focus on core

activities, with outsourcing of non-core activities either through the creation of

independent companies either still under the state control, or usually through

outsourcing of smaller activities to private sector companies2.

The market for international rail passenger services has been liberalised in the

EU from 1 January 2010. Any licensed, certified rail company established in the

EU is in principle able to offer such services, and in doing so has the right to pick

up and set down passengers at any station along the international route. The

market for purely domestic rail passenger services is not yet being opened up to

EU-wide competition. However, the Commission has with its 4th Railways Package

made proposals in that sense3.

Although EU law provides for open access for all EU rail freight transport

companies as of 1 January 2007, there are still countries that restrict the access

of foreign rail freight companies to their network. In practice, some countries

have implemented EU directives on paper only and/or have only provided their

regulatory authorities with weak competencies. Very few countries in fact have

regulatory authorities that are actually capable of providing non-discriminatory

network access.

As a result of the relatively short period of time available for the practical

implementation of the regulatory framework, the practical market access

processes in most countries are not as well understood and developed as the

legal requirements. There are other countries, however, in which the legal

requirements are hardly developed at all by comparison, while the practical

1 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/rail/market. 2 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Condition, Employment,

industrial relations and working conditions in the European rail transport sector, 2006 3 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/rail/market.

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market access conditions have already reached an advanced stage of

development, and vice versa. Interestingly, Romania and Bulgaria, which had

introduced rail reforms prior to EU accession on 1 January 2007 have liberalised

their rail markets more than some of the founder members of the EU.

At the moment the 4th Railway Package is the main legislative package under

consideration. This is a set of planned improvements to rail transport regulation

in the European Union. The package seeks further opening of railway markets

and increasing separation of infrastructure management and railway operation.

With further market opening in which tendering processes may lead to the

transfer of public service provision, additional worker protection is needed that

goes beyond the protection offered by Directive 2001/23/EC on the Transfer of

Undertakings. Also, the Commission requires pan-European Railway operators to

set up European Works Councils in line with Directive 2009/38/EC on European

Works Councils.1

The package – covering standards and authorisation for rolling stock, workforce

skills, independent management of infrastructure and the liberalisation of

domestic passenger services – has been adopted by the European Commission

(as of January 2013), but is still being discussed by the European Parliament and

the Council of Ministers.

Stakeholders’ opinions

According to Commission staff, the previous railway reforms have already made

a lot of changes in the labour market dynamics, including significant staff

reductions over the last years. The decreasing public funding that these

organisations are confronted with are accelerated due to the crisis. There seems

to be no link between the market opening and impacts on attractiveness and/or

working conditions.

In the opinion of the railway undertakings as organised in CER2, the liberalisation

does not seem to have created new businesses, nor new jobs. The market share

has not increased, and for instance in France there has been a decrease in staff.

As far as 4th Railway Package is concerned, according to CER especially social

rules related to the Public Service Obligations are problematic as there is not yet

agreement on the interpretation of the rules.

The CER sees a pan-European horizontal transport policy as a good ambition, but

the regulatory environments (including tax arrangements) of the transport

modes are very different. Rail and road for instance have very different regimes.

A lot of actors in the road sector seem to abuse the legislation with detrimental

impacts on the health of drivers. These kind of conditions would not be

acceptable in the rail sector.

The infrastructure managers point of view as expressed by EIM’s vision: the

future of transport is a competitive, safe and interoperable European railway

1 European Rail: Challenges Ahead Memo/13/45 (2013), http://europa.eu/rapid/press-

release_MEMO-13-45_en.htm and European Railways at a junction: the Commission

adopts proposals for a Fourth Railway Package IP/13/45, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-

release_IP-13-65_en.htm (both last visited on 28/05/2013) 2 CER position paper: Structural Models for Europe's National Rail Sectors, 2011

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system open to all. Investment and technological developments should therefore

aim at a high performance European rail network that fully meets customer

needs, thereby reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector. EIM

strongly believes in the success of the Trans-European Network for Transport

(TEN-T) and Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) proposals and espouses

progressing this legislation and strengthening the foundations of a future single

European rail area. When succeeding in this in the present circumstances,

European rail could be at the heart of making a genuinely inter-connected

Europe a reality1.

According to ERFA, the European Rail Freight Association, there is a convergence

in safety regulations through the empowerment of the European Railway Agency

(ERA)2, the market is becoming more transparent and the 4th Railway Package is

very important, as is the European rail driver’s licence. In the view of ERFA,

liberalisation also has generated a significant number of jobs. This is

demonstrated by the reversed decline that was obvious in rail freight in France.

According to ETF, the European Workers Federation, there is a problem due to

the liberalisation/competition in the domestic rail sector. The introduction of

competition will induce railway companies to cut costs and this will affect

employment and working conditions by reducing the number of employees,

outsourcing services, increasing precarious jobs, intensifying the workload 3 and

investing less in training and health and safety at work

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘ Sometimes there is competition due to the fact that there are only two companies offering this

kind of services in the country. In most cases the competitor offers higher salaries for attracting

the most efficient personnel’.

‘We do experience unfair competition. Competition mostly is done by offering working conditions

and benefits to ply potential employees. This particularly happens with train drivers with an

international driving licence and who speak fluent French and/or German. We see competition

coming from all types of rail companies both in the freight transport and personnel carriage ’.

‘Our own company does not experience (unfair) competition on the labour market. But this

competition is on the market, that’s for sure’.

‘As yet, we have not experienced any unfair competition on the labour market we are acting on’.

‘We experience fierce competition for logistics and transport personnel, particularly because we

are seated in a transport minded town. Competition all revolves around pay and working

conditions.

Interoperability of rail networks should be increased as this hampers market functioning in

international rail freightage. This is causing problems for attaining the fullest potential of rail

1 EIM (2011), EIM Vision Paper on the Transport White Paper; EIM (2012), The Making of

an Inter-Connected Europe: EIM Position Paper in the Revised TEN-T and CEF. 2 The ERA was set up to help create this integrated railway area by reinforcing safety and

interoperability. The Agency also acts as the system authority for the European Rail

Traffic Management System (ERTMS) project, which has been set up to create unique

signalling standards throughout Europe. See: http://www.era.europa.eu. 3 Pickup, L. et al. Fundamental examination of mental workload in the rail industry, 2005

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transport.

Despite efforts to liberalise the market, in Germany it is politically not popular to pursue further

liberalisation of the railway market. This is because of the monopoly that Deutsche Bahn (DB)

has, as it is an important state-owned company that has great economic importance. However,

this monopoly hampers development in other companies and might very well have adverse

effects on the economy, despite the perceived importance of keeping DB as large as it is ’.

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

Social dialogue

State of affairs (partners, priorities)

The Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee Rail Transport comprises the Employers’

organisations Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies

(CER) and European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) and employees'

organisation European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF).

The Committee is currently focusing on:

Follow-up of joint agreements and recommendations

Joint project on the identification and prevention of psychosocial risks in the

railway sector (aim is to see clearly what is meant with stress and in what

situations it arises from a commonly agreed and scientific viewpoint)

Joint project on insecurity and the feeling of insecurity in rail passenger

transport.1

Spearheads of the Working Programme 2013-2014 of the Committee are

Adaptability and Interoperability (Working Group I) and Employability and Equal

Opportunities (Working Group II).2

Achievements, difficulties and deficiencies

Achievements are amongst others:

Joint project on insecurity and the feeling of insecurity in rail passenger

transport – follow-up to the joint recommendations of the European social

partners (2011-12)

WIR - Women In Rail - good practices and implementation guide (2012)

Practical guide: Employability in the face of demographic change - prospects

for the European rail sector (2011)

Joint recommendations on ‘The concept of employability in the railway sector’

(2007).

Agreement on certain aspects of the working conditions of railway mobile

workers assigned to interoperable cross-border services (2004) implemented

by Council Directive 2005/47/EC. 3

Representation is a problem as the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) 4,

the association of the new entrants of freight rail operators, has never completed

its request to become member of the Sectoral Dialogue Committee, so that DG

1 http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=480&langId=en&intPageId=1849. 2 Sector Social Dialogue Committee Rail Transport (2012). Work Programme 2013-2014. 3 http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=480&langId=en&intPageId=1849. 4 http://www.erfarail.eu/

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EMPL was not in a position to assess if the criteria outlined in Commission

Decision of 20 May 1998 – 98/500/EC are met. Since this assessment could not

be made and ERFA never answered to DG EMPL's invitation to provide the

necessary documentation, the other social partners (ETF and CER and EIM) were

not yet asked if they would recognise ERFA.

CER is of the opinion that the social dialogue works well. Even though reaching

agreement is difficult, it is still meaningful. Balancing of social issues at EU-level

is most difficult, as there is always a risk of destroying balances within specific

Member States. The Sectoral Social Dialogue in the rail sector has become more

focused on Human Resource Management, with specific attention to gender

equality (female employment), employability and the protection of staff. As far

as representation is concerned, representation of railway workers through unions

differs by country. According to CER, ERFA is not represented in the Sectoral

Social Dialogue Committee because they have not been internally granted power

for negotiation (the members do not want to discuss at EU-level).

As mentioned above, ERFA is not included in the Sectoral Social Dialogue. It is a

rather small organisation, mainly focusing on legal and technical issues, but has

no objection to be involved. In this respect there have already been talks at EU-

level. In the perception of ERFA Social Dialogue at EU-level has a low intensity

as most happens on national level. Trends in social dialogue depend on the

country (in the Nordic countries there is tradition of discussion, which is more

difficult in the Southern countries). As far as the rail freight operators are

concerned, according to ERFA the new entrants have a neutral stance in social

dialogue. The historic operators seem less neutral, sometimes even ‘politically

biased’. In the perception of ERFA, ETF is very rigid and accuses the new

entrants of social dumping. ERFA thinks it would lose staff if they would actually

do that. In France there is a risk that the new entrants are not listened to; the

unions want to impose the rules of the old organisations.

According to ETF, Sectoral Social Dialogue in rail transport is going very well.

Eurofound1 concludes that the high share of employment in the railway sector by

large state-owned companies means there are several reasons why industrial

relations are specific to the sector:

First, many countries do not have a sector-level employer organisation. Some

employer organisations are not specific to the railway sector as they cover

the state-owned railway companies and broader segments of the public

sector. In other countries, employer organisations cover only the private

operators, which represent a small share of employment in the sector, and

the incumbent companies are often outside their scope.

Secondly, the trade unions for workers in the railway sector are organised in

a very fragmented way, albeit with a very high density.

Finally, in terms of collective bargaining, the focus lies on company-level

agreements in the incumbent railway companies that are negotiated directly

between the company management and the trade unions without the

employer organisations being involved. However, the sector has a high

proportion of employees who are covered by collective agreements since the

1 Eurofound Employment and industrial relations in the railways sector, 2012

13

incumbent companies normally represent a large share of employment in the

sector.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘Political factors strongly influence the company since it is state owned, financed by the state

and thus, its budget heavily depends on the political developments ’.

‘In general terms social partners and governments should play a role in addressing labour

market problems. Governments have to raise awareness of our sector and stimulate young

people to start a career in it through the appropriate education system. In more concrete terms,

there is a need for update and renewing educational methods. In particular this means good

simulators. These are expensive methods and we could benefit from state funding ’.

‘We believe that the companies have to solve the problems themselves; government can only

give the organisational frame’.

‘Social partners and governments should build down regulatory burdens. The EU is a free labour

market with free flow of labour!’.

‘Nowadays in our country all elements of PESTLE are linked tightly together as the government

steers the processes directly. If there is a political decision then the legal circumstances are

going to be changed which affects economy, society and technology as well. In our case the

regulation of railway is too heavy. We have to fulfil too many regulations which are causing us

high administration costs (manhours).’

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

2.2 Economic factors

2.2.1 General context EU transport labour market

The following economic factors play an important role for the EU transport labour

market as a whole:

General economic growth and the crisis: The current economic and

financial crisis lowers demand for transport services and leads to the

postponement or halting of investments in transport, infrastructure and

business in general. It also leads to rationalisation and outsourcing.

Furthermore, it creates high unemployment in some countries which puts

pressure on labour markets.

Geopolitical changes and globalisation: Geopolitical changes and

globalisation of economies and trade lead to redistribution of transport flows,

increasing transnational recruitment and impact on transport prices and

wages.

Regional differences in economic development & specialisation:

Successful regions specialise in a number of economic areas, leading to

specific development in transport

Congestion hampering and redistributing growth: Congestion of road

transport routes, but also specifically in urban areas, will increase and

seriously affect accessibility.

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2.2.2 Specific context EU rail transport labour market

According to ETF, the crisis has affected freight railway transport, with the small

market entrants suffering the most. However, freight railway transport seems to

recover slowly. The impact on the rail passengers’ traffic has not been so big.

Another issue relating to the crisis and that has influenced the railway sector

negatively is the implementation of austerity policies in combination with the

reduction of public budgets. This directly affected the state owned railway

companies that exist in many Member States.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘Most important influencing factor is the economic crisis. The rest of the PESTLE factors may

have some bearing on the transport labour market, but not explicitly. We are heavily dependent

on industrial activity, but we are seeing that Citroën and Arcelor Mittal, for instance, are closing

plants in France. This means a great reduction in transport of cokes and steel, and so on. We

see that we have to innovate our services and we are looking to multimodal services as to

transfer transport from one mode to the other to create efficiency. For this we need the logistics

professionals who are well versed in the technical issues, and who can say no to clients when

they see that the client does not ask for an economic viable solution from us ’.

The influence of the economy is very important, but is hard to pinpoint where this precisely

lies’.

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

2.3 Social factors

2.3.1 General context EU transport labour market

The following social factors play an important role for the EU transport labour

market as a whole:

Demographic development: Growing population (even if slowly, means

more demand for transport of passengers and thus more demand for labour)

and an ageing workforce (less supply of labour)

High level of unemployment in many EU countries: This puts a downward

pressure on wages and working conditions and may make that past training

and formation of the unemployed becomes obsolete or forgotten.

Underrepresentation of women in the workforce: As a result of difficult

working conditions, stereotypical masculine image of the transport sector and

disadvantageous work-life balance not many women are attracted to the

transport sector.

Continuous monitoring of employee performance: Increased control over

employees’ performance - made possible by IT developments – can lead to

perceived pressure and possibly create stress.

Violence in the public domain: Violence has also manifested in the

transport sector and is particularly reported in the passenger transport sector.

Organised crime: The transport sector suffers from crime increasing

organised crime, especially in road freight transport and maritime transport

(piracy).

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Development of a liability culture: Transport employees are facing legal

action when incidents occur under their responsibility.

2.3.2 Specific context EU rail transport labour market

For the technical jobs, it is difficult to find new people because the young people

do normally not prefer technical education. Moreover, the people with technical

education background prefer to work in other sectors (e.g. telecommunications).

Nevertheless, no problems exist on finding people for managerial or human

resources positions. The problem is mainly on technical jobs. Another reason

increasing the difficulties for finding new people for working in the Railway sector

is that the workers tend to find the other sectors more attractive.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘The issue of demographics (Society) is paramount. There are less and less young people. This

does not have to be a strictly bad situation, because we can ask our current employees to stay

on longer. But we then need to keep everyone motivated and healthy, despite the increasing

average age. On the other hand, if people want to work less at a later stage in their life, they

must be willing to accept less pay. This is not possible at the moment, but it would make

sense’.

‘People are getting lazier. It is an issue of values and work ethic: people want to work with a

cappuccino by there side. There is no willingness to do hard work. This is a big problem in

societies these days’.

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

2.4 Technological factors

2.4.1 General context EU transport labour market

The following technological factors play an important role for the EU transport

labour market as a whole:

Increasing use of IT

Technological innovations

Faster and larger transport means

Intermodality: Making use of the advantages of different transport modes

(e.g. between rail and road) that are neatly tuned to each other, thus

keeping transfer time and cost (for passengers and freight) between the

different modes at a minimum.

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These technological developments lead to:

Efficiency & productivity gains, economies of scale and smarter

mobility & logistics (less demand for labour or more demand if

activity grows as a result of lower prices)

Diversification of requirement leading to specialised jobs

Upgrading of labour (more complex job requirements).

2.4.2 Specific context EU rail transport labour market

A reduction in the use of labour-intensive single wagons is noticeable, with less

labour-intensive complete trains being used in freight transport instead. New

technologies like ERTMS1 or automatic shunting systems are labour

rationalisation technologies, which mainly affect traffic control personnel or

shunting professions2.

ETF is of the opinion that technological innovations in the rail transport sector

will decrease the level of the required skills in general. In this respect, one can

speak of de-skilling, i.e. the process by which skilled labour is eliminated by the

introduction of technologies operated by semiskilled or unskilled workers.

However, the introduction of the ERTMS will ask for higher skills and knowledge.

2.5 Legal factors

2.5.1 General context EU transport labour market

The following legal factors play an important role for the EU transport labour

market as a whole:

Different social regimes between Member States: In general wages,

working conditions and social security are less favourable in new Member

States compared to the other Member States. As discussed in the main text,

this may lead to social dumping of which little evidence, but a great number

of actual suspicions and cases is available.

Different social legislation between transport modes: Besides horizontal

EU social legislation, transport modes have their own social regulations

(especially in the field of (harmonisation of) training and certification and

working times). EU specific regulations on the phenomenon of false self-

employment are still lacking. A problem remains the enforcement of the EU

Directives at national level.

Non-EU workers under lower standard legal regime: The co-existence of

non-EU-workers carrying out intra-EU transport, who may choose as State of

1 The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is an initiative backed by the

European Union to enhance cross-border interoperability and the procurement of

signalling equipment by creating a single Europe-wide standard for train control and

command systems. The two main components of ERTMS are the European Train Control

System (ETCS), a standard for in-cab train control, and GSM-R, the GSM mobile

communications standard for railway operations. The equipment can further be

subdivided between on-board and infrastructure equipment. See also:

http://www.ertms.net.

2 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy.

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Residence a Member State with less favourable legal and social regimes, has

an impact on average working conditions and remuneration packages.

Although non-EU workers must always be subject for a start to the legislation

of a Member State, they easily fall prey to illegal practices. Their weight on

labour supply reduces the negotiating position of the other workers.

Safety regulations to protect both transport workers and society: As a

result of EU safety regulations the safety conditions for transport workers

and society at large (i.e. passengers and other road users) have increased.

2.5.2 Specific context EU rail transport labour market

Social legislation

General

CER points at the link between social legislation and the attractiveness of the

profession as employees in the railway sector typically want a stable

environment and do not want to be afraid about the future. According to CER,

besides social legislation the EU also has an important role in social protection

within the framework of mandatory tendering procedures.

EU regulations concerning (harmonisation of) training and certification

A study carried out in 20021 highlighted the wide diversity of national legislation

on certification conditions for train drivers, the resulting administrative

complications for railways undertakings that wish to operate on the networks of

the Member States, and the associated operational difficulties in organising

cross-border services. The Commission therefore proposed a single certification

model for train driving personnel attesting both to their compliance with certain

requirements, including basic fitness for the job, and to their driving skills. This

became legislation under Directive 2007/59/EC of the European Parliament and

of the Council of 23 October 2007 on Certification of train drivers operating

locomotives and trains on the railways system in the Community. This Directive,

establishes minimum requirements which applicants should meet to obtain a

licence or harmonised complementary certificate. The Directive lays down the

conditions and procedures for Certification of train drivers operating locomotives

and trains on the railways system in the Community. It specifies the tasks for

which the competent authorities of the MS, train drivers and other stakeholders

in the sector, in particular railways undertakings, infrastructure managers and

training centres, are responsible. This Directive shall apply to train drivers

operating locomotives and trains on the railways system in the Community for a

railways undertaking requiring a safety certificate or an infrastructure manager

requiring a safety authorisation. All train drivers shall have the necessary fitness

and qualifications to drive trains and shall hold the following documents:

A licence demonstrating that the driver satisfies minimum conditions as

regards medical requirements, basic education and general professional

skills. The licence shall identify the driver and the issuing authority and shall

state the duration of its validity.

1 European Commission, DGTREN, Training and staff requirements for railway staff in

cross-border operations, December 2002.

18

One or more certificates indicating the infrastructures on which the holder is

authorised to drive and indicating the rolling stock which the holder is

authorised to drive.

The requirements each licence and certificate have to comply with are listed in

Annex I of the Directive.

The development of a single European railway area necessarily leads to a

necessary homologation of standards, as exposed in the White Paper: A strategy

for revitalising the Community’s railways, which, among the others, considers

the issue of integrating rail systems.

EU regulations concerning working conditions

To protect workers’ health and safety, minimum rules are needed on working

time in all EU Member States. For all the sectors, the basic Directive is Directive

2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003

concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (in short: the

Working Time Directive, see main text). European Community has set specific

regulations on driving time and rest periods in road transport, international

railway transport and air transport.

Driving time and rest periods

Relevant for rail transport is Council Directive 2005/47/EC of 18 July 2005 on the

Agreement between CER and ETF on certain aspects of the working conditions of

mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services in the railway

sector implements an agreement between the social partners in the various

sectors at European level1. The agreement strikes a balance between the need to

ensure adequate protection of the health and safety of mobile workers in

interoperable cross border services and the need for flexibility in running railway

transport enterprises in an integrated European railways network. The main

provisions include:

A daily rest period of 12 consecutive hours and breaks of between 30 and 45

minutes granted to workers.

A limit of daily driving time of 9 hours on a day shift and of 8 hours on a

night shift.

Greater flexibility for employers, for the reason that, under exceptional

circumstances, they can shorten the daily rest periods to 9 hours instead of

to 11 as provided for in the Working Time Directive.

Possibility for the Member States to introduce more favourable provisions

than those laid down in the Directive. Furthermore, the Directive may not be

used to justify a lower level of protection for workers where better protection

is afforded under existing national legislation.

According to a report by the Commission, the main impact of Directive

2005/47/EC lies in its role as a safety net. It prevents a race-to-the-bottom on

working conditions, particularly working time, by imposing a harmonised floor

1 TNO/NEA, Implementation of Directive 2005/47/EC on the agreement on certain aspects

of the working conditions of mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border

services in the railway sector, 2011

19

below which no operator may go. It ensures a level playing field and prevents

unfair competition.

There is no evidence to show that interoperable cross-border services in the

railway sector are significantly hampered by the rules established by the

Directive. This may partly be explained by the limited incidence of situations

where such rules (staff crossing a border with the train) actually apply at the

moment. The expected increase in such services, in particular by smaller

operators, may give these rules more prominence in the future. 1

Achievements, difficulties and deficiencies in EU social legislation

Commission staff points at difficulties that appeared in the implementation of the

2007 Directive on Certification of train drivers, which establishes minimum

requirements which applicants should meet to obtain a licence or harmonised

complementary certificate. It appears that there are many specifics related to

the specific trains used and local rules.

According to CER, legislative action is needed in plenty of areas. Currently there

is no level playing field between the various transport modes at social level,

passenger rights and costs. A pan-European approach would be needed to

address social dumping, working conditions, training, career development, etc.

In the opinion of CER, salaries should remain at national level, however.

In the view of ERFA, no further social legislation is needed.

ETF points at the lack of harmonisation of training and certification of on-board

staff. By lobbying at EU level ETF tries to come to a regulation of standards

similar to those for the locomotive drivers. Another problem is the lack of

enforcement of the existing regulations.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘The company is particular satisfied with the current legal framework. The first railway package,

the certification of coaches, the liberalisation and independency of the infrastructure manager

have contributed to the good regulation of the particular sector.

‘We have collective labour agreements at our company and these are mostly more strict that the

law has in terms of requirements for working hours and so on. So, I think legislative issues are

not as pressing as they may be in other transport sectors ’.

‘EC-laws are not implemented into the national law system as it should be. It is too

complicated, too eager and there are several rules where you cannot decide how to proceed, nor

can the regulatory bodies. For example: loco drivers can only be hired by a railway undertaking

(with licence), wagon inspectors can be hired by any company. Both are functions with railway

profession of high standard and influencing railway safety, still there is a difference in this way. ’

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

1 COM(2012) 627 final. Implementation by Member States of Council Directive 2005/47/EC

of 18 July 2005 on the Agreement between the Community of European Railways (CER)

and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) on certain aspects of the working

conditions of mobile workers engaged in interoperable cross-border services in the

railway sector. Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council.

20

2.6 Environmental factors

2.6.1 General context EU transport labour market

The following environmental factors play an important role for the EU transport

labour market as a whole:

Implementation of (EU and national) sustainability policies: Emphasis

on sustainability increases and affects job requirements in the transport

sector.

Modal shift and clean power transport: There is shift towards cleaner

modes of transport and cleaner technologies within each mode with an

increasing demand for public transport and electro mobility.

‘Eco-driving’, consolidation of flows and smarter logistics: These

developments affect both job requirements and labour demand in the

transport sector

Employment potential of ‘Green transport’ Europe needs to change to a

green, low carbon and resource efficient-economy. Transforming the

economy in this direction will provide an important source of jobs if the right

skills are provided. The Commission has developed this subject under its

‘Towards a job-rich recovery’ Communication1. The Commission also

participates in THE PEP: This UNECE partnership aims at exploring new

options for job creation and economic development, and maximising at the

same time the potential gains for environment and health through innovative

transport policies.

2.6.2 Specific context EU rail transport labour market

It is expected that through greening of supply chains more intensive use will be

made of rail freight transport in the future. This will have impact labour demand

in railway transport.

In some countries it is observed that younger generations are less likely to

possess cars and will make more use of public transport. This will also have an

impact on labour demand in the railway sector.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘Environment is a particular issue: no one is willing to be environmentally friendly, whatever

they say. The only way environmental issues become important is when the external costs they

bring with them can be correctly and completely discounted in the price for polluters. This is

very problematic to do. Of course, there are issues such as noise pollution that are prominent in

Germany at the moment. Things get swept up by the media and rail transport has to answer for

this’

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

1 http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=7619&langId=en

21

3 EU rail transport labour market trends

This section describes trends in demand for and supply of labour on the EU rail

transport labour market. First the demand trends will be described, followed by

trends in supply of labour.

3.1 Trends in demand

3.1.1 General trends in demand

The following trends hold for the EU transport labour market as a whole:

Employment (number of jobs): Following upon a long period of

employment growth, in 2009 and 2010 in the EU 27 the transportation and

storage sector showed a decrease in employment. In 2010, the total number

of occupied persons in the transportation and storage sector (excluding

postal and courier activities) amounted to 9,344,700 (against 9,433,500 in

2009 and 9,571,00 in 2008). In 2010, more than half of the occupied persons

(56.4%) worked in road transport and nearly a third in logistics (29.0%).

Labour mobility: As concerns labour mobility, people can move from job to

job within the same transport company, from company to company within the

same transport (sub)sector, between different (sub)sectors and/or between

different regions or countries (geographical mobility).

Number of vacancies: Compared to employment figures, vacancies are

much more vulnerable to cyclical factors and economic conditions and must

be interpreted as such. For the EU-27 the figures point towards a decline of

labour demand in transport for the period 2008-2011. No recent figures on

vacancies are available. Expectations are that after the economic crisis

labour demand will rise again.

Job requirements/ job types: In the transport sector, there seems to be a

general trend towards job polarisation (employers mainly look for highly or

lowly qualified workers, not for medium qualified workers). Furthermore,

demand for IT personnel and multi-skill jobs increases. At all skill levels,

most jobs in demand will be more and more characterised by non-routine

tasks which are not easily replaced by technology or organisational change.

Prognoses labour demand 2020: Future employment trends in transport

depend on a number of factors such as the development of trade and

economic activities, an ageing population and people's mobility patterns,

technological developments, energy availability and prices, measures towards

sustainable transport, alternative transport modes etc.

In the period 2010-2020 total employment in the transport and storage

sector in the EU-27 is expected to decrease with annually 0.1%; the

decrease being concentrated in non-transport related labour. Significant

employment losses are expected in warehousing and support activities. Land

transport is on average, whereas employment increases in water transport

and air transport.

Overall, employment of transport-related occupations is expected to remain

constant over the next decade. Results per occupation are closely related to

the employment results for individual sectors of industry. Results per

occupation are closely related to the employment results for individual

22

sectors of industry. For instance, the significant increases for air controllers,

air traffic safety technicians, aircraft pilots, conductors (to some extent) and

travel attendants are closely related to the employment increase in air

transport. Similar reasoning applies to ships’ personnel. Conversely,

employment of land transport related occupations is expected to decrease.

3.1.2 Specific demand trends rail transport

Employment development (number of jobs)

The figure and table below illustrate the development of employment in rail

transport.

Figure 3.1 Employment development (yearly change in occupied persons, in %) in

land transport (rail, road) and transport via pipelines and transportation

and storage (excl. postal and courier activities) as a whole, EU 27, 2003-

2010

-2,00

-1,50

-1,00

-0,50

0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

transportation and storage excl. postal and courier activities

land transport and transport via pipelines

Source: Panteia based on Eurostat

23

Table 3.1 Employment (occupied persons, in 1000s) in rail transport and

transportation and storage (excl. postal and courier activities) as a whole,

EU 27, 2008 , 2009 and 2010

2008 2009 2010 Change

2009-2010

(in 1000s)

Total 9571,7 9433,5 9344,7 -88,8

Land transport and transport via pipelines 6020,7 6036,3 5977,3 -59,0

Passenger rail transport interurban 513,9 514,7 510,4 -4,3

Freight rail transport 176,0 176,2 174,7 -1,5

Total rail 689,8 691,0 685,1 -5,8

Other passenger land transport 2183,4 2189,1 2167,6 -21,4

Freight transport by road and removal services 3124,1 3132,8 3101,3 -31,5

Total road (incl. urban public) 5307,5 5321,9 5269,0 -53,0

Transport via pipeline 23,4 23,4 23,2 -0,2

Total pipeline 23,4 23,4 23,2 -0,2

Source: Panteia based on Eurostat

In 2010, rail transport (excluding urban rail) accounted for 7,3% of the

employment in the sector transportation and storage (excl. postal and courier

activities) as a whole in the EU 27. That year, in total 685,100 persons were

occupied in rail transport (against 691,000 in 2009 and 689,800 in 2008). A

large majority (510,400) of the employment in rail transport in 2010 is in

passenger rail transport and a minority (174,700) in freight transport.

Looking at land transport and transport via pipelines as a whole, f igure 3.1

shows that, in general, employment development is less favourable than in the

sector transportation and storage (excl. postal and courier activities) as a whole.

However, in this respect the year 2009 is an clear exception.

EESC describes several trends influencing the demand for labour in the railway

sector:

The railway sector is undergoing continuous restructuring with productivity

increases and employment reduction: e.g. sales personnel in train stations,

on-board personnel in regional passenger transport, reduction in the use of

labour-intensive single wagons, with less labour-intensive complete trains

being used in freight transport instead. New technologies like ERTMS or

automatic shunting systems are labour rationalisation technologies, which

mainly affect traffic control personnel or shunting professions.

Unlike the current trend, promoting single wagon load transport allows a

credible environmental alternative to road and generates employment.

New market entrants in the rail freight business concentrate on full train

services with low labour intensity, while investment in the development of

new infrastructure and the improvement of existing networks will create jobs

in maintenance and support services for this new infrastructure. In this case,

job opportunities due to increased rail transport/modal shift will not only

benefit drivers1.

1 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy.

24

Relevant for the demand side are also restrictions in access to other Member

States' networks, in spite of EU law providing for open access for all EU rail fright

transport (see also section 2.1).

According to ETF, rail transport is a shrinking sector. The sector is in full

restructuring with productivity increases and reduction of the costs. The first

thing employers do to cut costs, is to reduce their staff. Thus, the numbers of

employees are decreasing. Outsourcing to (workers in) new Member States (such

as Bulgaria and Romania) is also involved in this restructuring process. However,

workers in the new Member State often have low(er) level skills and technical

jobs can not directly be done by them. Pre-education on technical matters is

needed.

Furthermore, ETF also points at a relatively new phenomenon in the rail

transport sector: self-employment. There are appearances of self-employed

locomotive drivers (for instance in France) The issue is mainly popping-up in

freight rail traffic.

Within land transport (rail, road) and transport via pipelines, the share of young

workers (15-24 years of age) is less than the EU overall average (see figure

3.2). The share of workers aged 24-49 equals approximately the EU overall share

of workers aged 25-49 and the share of workers aged 50 years or older exceeds

the EU overall share. Ageing seems to be an issue.

Figure 3.2 Age of employees in land transport1 (2010)

Source: Panteia, based on Eurostat LFS.

1 subsector land transport (rail, road) and transport via pipelines

25

In land transport (rail, road) and transport via pipelines the share of male

workers largely exceeds the share of female workers. More than 80% of all

employees are male (see figure 3.3). As discussed, road transport is the main

mode in this data.

Figure 3.3 Gender of employees in land transport (2010)

Source: Panteia, based on Eurostat LFS.

Labour mobility

According to ERFA, job mobility is very high among the new entrants on the rail

freight market. There are actually many examples of ‘stealing’ train drivers away

from other companies. With a little paperwork and retraining the driver can be

employed by another organisation. On the contrary, the old operators provide

life-time employment and – in the opinion of ERFA - actually distort the market.

Job requirements/job types

Required educational level

There are significant differences between countries regarding the required

educational level for external recruitment for all staff categories. Internal

recruitment is preferred by some of the former national railways in order to

make best use of redundant staff. The balance between classroom training and

on-the-job training differs per country. Also the use of simulators for the training

of train drivers and traffic management staff varies1.

Differences in recruitment levels and composition of training between countries

mean that a general harmonisation of training approaches and training methods

will be difficult. A harmonisation of the competences required for the staff

involved in cross-border operations was deemed in a 2002 study for the market

1 European Commission (2002), Training and staff requirements for railway staff in cross-

border operations.

26

situation existing at the time to be preferable compared to a harmonisation of

levels of recruitment or a harmonisation of the training system1.

A number of countries had progressed some way in implementing licensing and

certification systems for train drivers. However, to overcome large national

differences, there was definitely a need for a common European approach in this

area. Therefore, at European level formal requirements for a license to drive

trains on the European infrastructure were implemented in 2007 (Directive

2007/59/EC). As it had been foreseen in the 2002 study, this Directive adopted a

two-level approach similar to that implemented in the air transport industry

where there was already a license as a permission to fly and specific licences for

specific aircraft and airports. Thus in the railway sector there is now a general

license demonstrating education, skills and medical requirements and one or

more certificates concerning the knowledge of the infrastructure on which and

the rolling stock in which the holder is authorised to drive 2.

Requirements following from cross-border operations

A common language and/or common communication system is a necessary pre-

condition for successful cross-border operations. The solution that has been used

in most of the successful cross-border cases has been the recruitment of train

drivers and other on-board staff with knowledge of two or more languages. Extra

language training has been used in some cases.

In the case of the Øresund link between Sweden and Denmark, a solution with

training in the use of a common simplified communication system has been

chosen rather than the use of English, Swedish or Danish as a common

language. Foreign train drivers are allowed to operate with the simplified

common communication system as long as the ATC system is active, but have

more restrictions than national drivers in cases of degraded operations. The

simplified communication system is one of the few subjects in which dispatching

and control-command staff also receive training.

There is definitely some good practice that could be used for other cross-border

operations. The Øresund solution could be used at European level with a

simplified communication system and a link to the use of ERTMS/ETCS. The use

of a single language, on the other hand, would require extensive training also of

infrastructure staff and probably be quite costly depending on the mix of national

and international traffic3.

Traditionally, mutual recognition of requirements between ‘railway networks’ has

been one of the main building stones for successful cross-border operations. This

system must be changed in order to establish transparent and equal conditions

for both new and old operators and should be replaced by either minimum

requirements at European level or mutual recognition of requirements between

Member States4.

1Ibid. 2 Ibid. 3 European Commission (2002), Training and staff requirements for railway staff in cross-

border operations. 4 Ibid.

27

The cross-border case studies show that, in the short term at least, a large

number of two or three system locomotives are likely to be introduced for cross-

border freight operations in Europe. This is done in the first place to save time at

border stations by avoiding brake checks, etc. even with a change of train driver.

It is clear that this will lead to a demand for more cross-border operations for

train drivers. Working hours requirements, language skills and training needs for

specific knowledge in ‘foreign’ operational rules could limit this development. The

relative importance of working hours, language skills and other training needs

depends on the actual location of marshalling yards and terminals and it is

therefore not possible to make any general conclusions on this issue1.

Prognoses labour demand 2010-2020

In the framework of this project an employment forecast for the period 2010-

2020 by broad transport subsector has been prepared. The model used

comprised 10 EU countries (called EU10 here): Poland, Germany, France, United

Kingdom, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and

Slovenia. These countries have been chosen in view of data availability and being

representative for the transport sector in the EU27 as a whole. The model has

been designed from basic economic principles, i.e. by deriving factor demand

from expected production – which is exogenous – and relative factor prices

assuming profit maximising behaviour by enterprises.

Table 3.2 gives a summary of the results of the forecast for production, labour

productivity and employment in EU10 for the transport sector as a whole and the

subsector land transport (rail, road) and transport via pipelines.

Table 3.2 Summary results employment scenario 2010-2020 for EU10,

transport sector as a whole and subsector logistics transportation and storage excl. postal and courier activities; NACE Rev. 2 49 -52

2010/'15 2015/'20 2010/'20

average annual change in %

real gross value added (f.c.) 1.2 1.3 1.2

labour productivity 1.4 1.3 1.3

total employment -0.1 0.0 -0.1

land transport and transport via pipelines; NACE Rev. 2 49

2010/'15 2015/'20 2010/'20

average annual change in %

real gross value added (f.c.) 1.0 1.0 1.0

labour productivity 1.2 1.2 1.2

total employment -0.1 -0.2 -0.1

Source: Panteia

The expected decrease in employment in the subsector land transport (rail, road)

and transport via pipelines is comparable to the expected decrease in

employment in the transport sector as whole (in 2010-2020 annually -0,1%).

The 10 countries under review make up 73% of total employment in the EUR27

transport sector. Considering this, employment results for EU10 have been

1 Ibid.

28

inflated to EUR27 by applying EU10 occupational-specific growth rates to 2010

employment levels for EUR27 (see table 4.1 in section 4.1).

Overall, employment of transport-related occupations is expected to remain

constant over the next decade (in the period 2010-2020 annually 0.0%).

However, there are increases for the most important rail transport occupations:

locomotive engine drivers, railway brake, signal and switch operators and

transport conductors (annually +0.7%, +0.6% and 0.7%). This is closely related

to the expected employment increase in rail transport.

3.2 Trends in supply

3.2.1 General trends in supply

The following trends hold for the EU transport labour market as a whole:

Workforce EU transport: Total labour supply in transport-related

occupations amounts to 11.2 million persons in EU27 in 2010. On average,

two third has a job in the transport sector, others are working in other

sectors of industry or are unemployed.

Ageing and the gender issue: Ageing: The demographic pattern in

transport is worrying: within ten to fifteen years a substantial part of the

labour force will move into retirement. The gender issue: The transport

sector is largely male-dominated. Besides this male working culture, also the

less favourable job quality (employment and work quality) is a hindrance for

women to work in the sector.

Labour market reserves: Labour market reserves comprise amongst others

the following categories: unemployed, returners, potential employees

currently working in other sectors (horizontal inflow) and labour migrants. As

concerns labour migrants, apart from Eastern EU nationals working in

Western Europe, an important development is the increasing deployment of

3rd country nationals in the EU transport sector.

Prognoses labour supply 2020: To forecast the labour supply for

transport-related occupations in the period 2010-2020, two scenarios have

been used. Scenario 1 keeps the current rates by age and occupation

category constant. Scenario 2 assumes that for the 2010 cohorts

participation rates do not change except for the oldest group. In scenario 1,

total supply for transport-related labour decreases from 11.6 million persons

in 2010, to 11.5 million persons in 2020, this is an average decrease of 0.1%

annually. In scenario 2 the labour supply for transport-related occupations

increases from 11.5 million persons in 2010, to 13.2 million persons in 2020,

i.e. by 1.3% annually.

29

3.2.2 Specific supply trends rail transport

Ageing and the gender issue

Ageing of the labour force

Rail companies face a disadvantageous demographic structure. 1 On the one hand,

it will be more and more difficult for the railway companies with their largely

consolidated workforces to recruit young employees and, on the other hand, it

will be a matter of retaining the increasing share of older employees in the

companies for a longer period of time. From the companies’ perspective, this is a

matter of ensuring the highest possible continuity of knowledge, health and skills

– including the need for knowledge transfer. From the employees’ perspective, it

is a question of whether they are able to adapt to new demands

of the working environment.2

The age pyramid of the railway labour force demonstrates that a large contingent

of workers is expected to leave the railways soon. According to Commission

staff, the severity of the problem is difficult to assess. Despite a small number of

figures that have been presented in studies, at the moment the Commission is

not able to quantify the problem. There seem to be no regional differences in this

respect.

According to CER, within the next ten years half of the European railway workers

are due to retire.3 Apart from the significant recruitment effort required, there is

a significant training effort needed to avoid a loss of knowledge and

competences.

Also ETF points at the ageing workforce. The average age of the people working

in the railway sector is very high. The next ten years many people will retire and

have to be replaced by new employees.

Gender issue

Women are underrepresented in the rail transport sector. There are a number of

barriers to recruitment of women in this sector:

Physical strain for instance; in some jobs this still persists but it is mainly the

perception of the job than the railway job itself which presents a barrier.

Also, gender related stereotypes and prejudices are still common in European

railway companies; in many fields of railway work there is a typical male

work culture. Because railway companies usually have small sites dispersed

throughout a country, it can be difficult to counteract such stereotypes as

those holding them are far removed.

Shift work and spatial mobility can present a barrier to women with caring

responsibilities. Child care possibilities do not fit with shift scheduling and

thus there are too few female applicants for certain railway occupations.

1 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy. 2 CER, EIM and ETF (2011), Employability in the face of demographic change – Prospects

for the European rail sector. A practical guide to design the future. 3 Ibid.

30

Although women are in general as well educated as men, they are

underrepresented in technical studies; they thus lack the required skills and

knowledge for some railway jobs1.

Labour market reserves

According to CER, international job mobility is already present, although

employees are not sourced from 3rd countries. Certification has clearly made job

mobility easier. ETF points at DB, in need of 18.000 people they cannot easily

find and therefore recruiting in EU-countries with high unemployment rates such

as Greece, Spain and Portugal.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘The amount and the position of non-EU workers active within our company is hard to estimate.

We do have some non-EU or foreign employees. But if you work in France for two years and

marry, you can become a French national. Of course our subsidiary companies in Poland,

Russia, etcetera employ their nationals, but this is logical ’

‘I’m not entirely sure we employ people from outside the EU. We do have a number of

nationalities in our local branch in Holland, however I th ink they all speak Dutch, as this is

required when contacting traffic control for security reasons. Important is to note that we do

not employ foreigners to cut wage costs, as they might do in other transport sectors. This

mostly because the language issue. For that matter, we are quite envious of the Air transport

sector which has a common language in the guise of English. This would make life easier if you

consider that we must train drivers, who are bound for Wallonia, in French, although this is only

240 kilometres from Rotterdam’.

‘At the moment we have no worker form outside the EU. This is due to language barriers.

However, if shortages in personnel persist it is likely we will start hiring people from outside the

Union. Frankly, we do not really care where someone is from, as long as he or she is competent

in terms of our requirements and can communicate in the way we need. ’

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

Prognoses labour supply 2020

In scenario 1 the supply of the most relevant rail transport occupations -

locomotive engine drivers, railway brake, signal and switch operators and

transport conductors - show the same growth rate as the average for all

transport-related occupational categories (in 2010-2020 annually -0.1%). In

scenario 2 the percentage for locomotive engine drivers, railway brake, signal

and switch operators and transport conductors slightly lag behind average (-

1.3%) (see table 4.1 in section 4.1).

1 CER, EIM & ETF (2012), Women in rail – Good practices and implementation guide.

31

4 Discrepancies EU rail transport labour

market

The section describes discrepancies on the EU rail transport labour market.

Successively, we go into quantitative discrepancies, qualitative discrepancies and

information asymmetries.

4.1 Quantitative discrepancies

4.1.1 General quantitative discrepancies

We can speak of quantitative discrepancies where there are not enough

sufficiently qualified school leavers or job seekers in (a subsector of) the

transport sector as a whole (labour shortage) or where there are not enough

vacancies to make use of the supply (labour surplus).

The following trends seem to hold for the EU transport labour market as a whole:

Current labour shortages/surpluses: Many transport branches already

report serious structural labour shortages, in particular for mobile jobs. As a

result of the economic crisis, these shortages are temporarily mitigated.

Prognoses labour shortages/surpluses 2020: In view of the ageing

population in Europe and competition among transport branches and

companies to attract (young) workers, labour shortages will cause serious

problems for the transport sector in the future. Whereas the employment of

transport-related occupations is expected to remain constant over the next

decade, labour supply falls in both scenarios. The largest discrepancies are

expected for aircraft staff, ship’s deck officers and pilots, and travel

attendants and stewards. This is in particular cumbersome for the transport

sector’s development because most of these specific occupations’

employment is found in the transport sector itself (by way of comparison:

many drivers do not actually work in the transport sector).

4.1.2 Specific quantitative discrepancies rail transport

Current labour shortages/surpluses

Rail operators experience problems attracting new employees to a considerable

degree, although the extent of these problems differ markedly per staff category.

Especially train drivers, dispatch and control-command staff prove hard to find.

This situation will probably worsen in the future. Despite this situation, a study

from 2007 found that at the time rail operators were not engaged in specific

recruiting initiative targeted at women or groups of people who often hold

marginal positions in labour markets (ethnic minorities, disabled people). Rail

operators do not perceive that attracting young people is a large problem,

32

consequently they do not focus on making young people aware of jobs in the rail

sector1.

Other stakeholder however mention the following:

According to the EESC, the rail transport sector is especially facing

recruitment problems at the level of higher education (engineers)2.

According to Commission staff, there seems to be a looming labour shortage

in railway transport because of the ageing workforce.

CER expects significant shortages as half of the European railway workers are

due to retire within the next ten years.

ERFA especially experience labour shortages in safety-related functions (jobs in

operations such as train drivers, ground staff and dispatchers). In this respect,

there is definitely an issue with the age pyramid (baby boomers leaving the

labour market). The key shortages concern the drivers, although the situation

differs country-by-country:

In France for instance there is no real market for drivers. The historic

operator trains drivers for its own demand and works under very rigid and

complicated social rules (for instance regarding rest time, working time and

time at home). There are very few transfers as drivers have to be trained

from scratch, which takes over six months/

Belgium is example where there is an immediate shortage (of about 250

drivers). Training drivers in Belgium takes over nine months.

In the UK there is a real market for train drivers. The liberalisation has had a

positive influence on wages. Good drivers can be obtained when sufficient

money is put on the table.

ETF points at the difficulties many Member States (for instance Germany) have

to recruit people. But, on the other hand, there are also countries (for instance

the UK) without substantial problems in this respect. There are especially

shortages for technical jobs. Young people do not normally prefer technical

education. Moreover, people with a technical education background prefer to

work in other sectors (e.g. telecommunications). Also, shortages are expected

for operational staff. There are no shortages (expected) for employees on

managerial and HR positions.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘We are always looking for the right people of course. We are particularly looking for, and

probably will stay looking for, technical security specialists in rail (in particular security

directors), logistics specialists who can offer complex solutions to our clients and offer complete

services in a commercial viable manner. Of course we also need train drivers, but they are still

a bit easier to find because they have a fixed skill set we need and come from schools we

know’.

‘The problem is, that in Hungary the railway field is not very attractive for young people (partly

because of the relatively low loans, especially in the state owned sector). This goes especially

1 European Commission (2007), Rail training 2020 – Training needs and offers in the

European railway area in the next 10-15 years.

2 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy.

33

for higher educated youngsters. For that reason, especially in the dispo center position where

colleagues have to know the railway network and its operation very well, the average age of the

employees becomes higher and higher. Educating the resupply is complicated: state owned

companies have to dismiss employees and private companies do not have the time for this

procedure. On the short term shortages of higher educated people are expected. Our company

is exploring the possibilities of our own resupply-education (in cooperation with educational

institutions’.

‘Recruitment problems depend on the positions to be covered. While there is no difficulty to re-

cruit lower educated people (for working on the tracks), there is a difficulty finding people to

cover positions requiring a higher level of education and higher skills. We addresses this

problem by offering the possibility to high-school and university students to realise the benefits

of working at our company’.

‘Our company is faced with some typical issues. Firstly, we are confronted with a declining

market. We therefore see that there is not enough work lying around for our employees.

However, we see that we will have need of train drivers and transport planners in the near

future. These are lower vocational educated people with mostly a technical/engineering

background. This has to do with the issue of ageing; many people will be retiring within a few

years. On the other hand, we do not have much need of higher educated people.

To address this problem have sought contact and strengthened ties with a particular technical

intermediate vocational education institute. We collaborate with this institution in terms of

supplying teaching materials and aid the lectures. In addition, we offer their students

apprenticeships which are an important way to enter our company. We see that there is a good

match between us and the school, in terms of profile, identity and geographic location ’.

‘There is definitely a shortage of well educated employees. Logistic companies and universities

train their students only in questions of general logistic as well as maritime and truck

movements. Railway business is still out of scope. To address this problem we closely cooperate

with the university in our area’.

‘Due to liberalisation and new entrants, the domestic labour market is quite active. Which

specific functions? Easy to find at the moment are loco drivers and wagon inspectors. Hard to

find are highly qualified, experienced operational staff with German/English knowledge. On our

national railway market regulatory burdens (such as obligatory medical inspection which lasts

sometimes very long) hinder/delay the hiring of new staff.

The shortage of well-trained operational staff is not easy to solve. We keep a close watch on the

market and try to find colleagues in advance so we can act immediately when needed ’.

‘We currently have shortages and expect them to worsen over time. As a railway and forwarding

company, we are searching for people who have skills and knowledge of both aspects. This is

particularly hard to come by, as there are no dedicated rail/logistics educational programmes.

Specifically we are in need of train drivers and operators who combine knowledge of forwarding

and rail specific issues. Also we have the problem of the ageing workforce.

A way to address these problems is using apprenticeships as a gateway for people to enter our

company. Currently we have 3 or 4 people in our apprenticeship. This could be more, but we

have to share the apprentices with our mother company so this hampers the process for us.

This tool of acquiring people should be pursued harder.

Governments have also a responsibility in can also play a role. They should take a general role

in income development, setting social stands and addressing the school system. The school

system is faltering as the government is saving their budgets. In respect of educating people

34

this has to be done by the companies now, there is a lot of on the job training ’.

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

Prognoses labour shortages/surpluses 2020

The table below compares the employment scenario for transport-related

occupations in the transport sector with the supply of transport-related

occupations in the whole economy. Whereas employment in the most relevant

rail transport related occupations - locomotive engine drivers, railway brake,

signal and switch operators, and transport conductors - in the period 2010-2020

increases, the labour supply in these occupations decreases in scenario 1. In

scenario 2 labour supply in these occupations increases, but still less than

expected employment growth.

Table 4.1 Transport-related labour: employment in transport and labour

supply in the whole economy, EU27, 2010 -2020

occupational category

2010 2020 2010 2020 2010 2020

supply, distribution and related managers 386 385 0.0 406 403 -0.1 406 455 1.1

air traffic controllers 27 31 1.3 28 28 -0.1 28 32 1.1

air traffic safety electronics technicians 13 15 1.7 40 39 -0.1 40 44 1.1

aircraft pilots and related associate professionals 39 46 1.7 50 50 -0.1 50 56 1.1

bus and tram drivers 968 961 -0.1 1,326 1,341 0.1 1,326 1,625 2.1

car, taxi and van drivers 1,180 1,193 0.1 2,155 2,158 0.0 2,155 2,448 1.3

crane, hoist and related plant operators 24 23 -0.1 441 438 -0.1 441 494 1.1

freight handlers 295 290 -0.2 1,657 1,610 -0.3 1,657 1,894 1.3

heavy truck and lorry drivers 1,942 1,882 -0.3 3,314 3,284 -0.1 3,314 3,679 1.1

lifting truck operators 175 174 -0.1 684 672 -0.2 684 793 1.5

locomotive engine drivers 272 292 0.7 687 683 -0.1 687 770 1.1

motorcycle drivers 58 57 -0.2 123 122 -0.1 123 138 1.1

railway brake, signal and switch operators 66 70 0.6 185 183 -0.1 185 207 1.1

ships' deck crews and related workers 43 45 0.4 50 50 -0.1 50 56 1.1

ships' deck officers and pilots 24 27 1.0 25 25 -0.1 25 29 1.1

ships' engineers 25 27 0.8 69 69 -0.1 69 78 1.1

transport conductors 174 186 0.7 183 182 -0.1 183 205 1.1

travel attendants and travel stewards 168 196 1.5 177 176 -0.1 177 198 1.1

total 5,879 5,899 0.0 11,601 11,514 -0.1 11,601 13,202 1.3

[1]

[2]

employment transport-related

occupations in transport, EU27

levels (1,000s)levels (1,000s)levels (1,000s)

supply of transport-related occupations, whole economy, EU27

scenario 2 [2]scenario 1[1]

constant age-specif ic participation rates

maximum age-specif ic/constant cohort-specif ic rates

annual change

2010/'20 (% p.a.)

annual change

2010/'20 (% p.a.)

annual change

2010/'20 (% p.a.)

Source: Panteia (see annex report supply of labour)

4.2 Qualitative discrepancies

4.2.1 General qualitative discrepancies

Qualitative discrepancies occur where there is both sufficient supply of labour

and a sufficient number of vacancies, but where the demands and wishes of

employees and employers regarding level of qualification, content and

organisation of the work diverge.

The following trends hold for the EU transport labour market as a whole:

Current skills shortages and deficiencies in training and career

opportunities: Training employees is required in order to meet up with

increasing requirements. Training opportunities for employees are limited

(especially for low-educated and old workers), but improving.

Human capital perspective: prognoses skill shortages 2020: For certain

operational professions the technological innovation will decrease the level of

skills required for being employed in the sectors in general. For example in

35

maintenance workshops direct repairs activities will be replaced by just

replacing electronic components that cannot be manipulated any more.

Job quality: Job quality contributes to the working image of a sector and/or

profession and by that to the possibilities to recruit and retain personnel. A

distinction can be made between employment and work quality. Employment

quality: Pay is relatively low in most transport professions and occupations.

Delocalisation of transport jobs and social regime competition practices

occur. To cut costs, pension and early retirement schemes are being

restructured. Working times are often irregular and in particular mobile

workers have to cope with regular and (very) long absences from home with

the exception of railway workers. Possibilities for part-time work are less

than in other sectors.

Work quality: Work autonomy in transport is relatively low. Problems

caused by heavy physical work have been replaced by stress derived from

time-pressures and efficiency improvements, thereby shifting from physical

to social or psychological problems. Transport is with reason considered a

dangerous activity (occurrence of accidents, public violence, organised

crime/piracy). Work intensity has increased (due amongst others to

increased traffic congestion and the use of ‘lean’ strategies or increasingly

tight scheduled transport services)

Job attractiveness: The satisfaction of transport workers with working

conditions (2.88 on a 4-point scale) and their motivation to perform (3.42 on

a 5-point scale) are higher than their satisfaction with wage (2.97 on a 5-

point scale).

The three variables influencing satisfaction with working conditions the most

are: 1) job giving the feeling of work well done; 2) working hours fitting in

with family or social commitments; 3) feeling of possibly losing job.

The three variables influencing satisfaction with wage the most are: 1)

satisfaction with working conditions (another main indicator); 2) wage; 3)

job giving the feeling of work well done.

The three variables influencing motivation to perform the most are: 1) having

good friends at work; 2) satisfaction with working conditions (another main

indicator); 3) feeling of doing useful work.

Quality of life: In general, a strong relationship exists between job quality

and life satisfaction of workers.

4.2.2 Specific qualitative discrepancies rail transport

Current skills shortages and deficiencies in training and career

opportunities

EESC describes the following training needs in the railway sector:

Increased cross-border traffic requires increased training in national safety

regulations and in language skills for both, drivers and on-board personnel.

A high level of safety and high quality services must be ensured by

certification of on-board personnel.

The introduction of new technologies like ERTMS changes the profile of

drivers and traffic control personnel increasing the need for IT training.

The tendency to multi-skilling in the rail freight sector requires the definition

of new professions and appropriate training courses.

36

The restructuring of the sector goes hand in hand with a multitude of actors

and of new interfaces. More personnel will be needed at the administrative

managerial level.1

According to CER, the main problem in this respect is with border-crossing staff.

Shortages exists in multilingual staff and that have necessary requirements to

drive the international sections.

As far as skill shortages are concerned, ERFA points at the following issues:

The lack of interoperability of staff is an issue. Drivers need to be trained line

per line. In the UK for instance the driver is required to make six full return

trips as a minimum. Per locomotive type one to two weeks are needed. Per

country three to six months are needed. This reinforces the shortage.

Standardised safety requirements would make business much easier.

Language is also a barrier. Even within a small country like Belgium this is a

major hindrance with the lack of Flemish speaking drivers.

ERFA is of the opinion that in (freight) rail transport more and better training is

needed. They point at the following shortcomings:

Training is very expensive. Excluding salary cost this amounts to 50,000 Euro

per driver. And there is no guarantee of success. About 50% finishes the

training, which sometimes drops to 30%. However, there is no plea to

shorten the training, as the train driver has a complicated job (more

comparable to being a civil aviation pilot than a truck driver). Locomotives

are highly complex and expensive23.

There are not enough training facilities. There is a need for more and open

training centres, either private or public. The current trainings centres are

too much attached to the historic operators. A subsidy scheme or grant

scheme for training should be possible for the railway sector. Similar options

are in place in Belgium and France for some job categories such as truck

drivers. There is currently no incentive.

In the rail transport sector in general, ETF notes a tendency of deskilling, i.e. the

process by which skilled labour is eliminated by the introduction of technologies

operated by lower skilled workers. For instance, experienced locomotive drivers

consider themselves very highly skilled while – mainly as a result of automation -

the current training standards of their jobs are lower than in the past. This

deskilling process asks for redefining jobs. The traditional ‘blue collar’ jobs in the

railway sector, as a consequence, disappear more and more.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘We do not see a big differences in skills needed compared to 15 or 10 years ago. We also do

not foresee much change in needs in terms of skills for the present and near future. The sole

difference now and 15 years ago is the state of the market due to the economic crisis .

It is hard to generalise about (shortages of) skills. Sometimes we employ people right out of

school, but sometimes we need really experienced people. I do not believe, when talking about

logistics specialists and so on, that it would be good to have one school that teaches all they

1 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy. 2 Eurofound Employment and industrial relations in the railways sector, 2012 3 A multisystem locomotive costs about 4 million Euro.

37

have to know on the whole of Europe. We need specialists in every country we operate, who

know the details and see where possibilities lie to improve our service ’.

‘The railway personnel has to be ever more educated, especially in respect of using IT tools.

Also important is the language knowledge, in order to manage the border crossing railway

transportation.The available education provide only the needed official exams but the real work

has to be educated on the job’.

‘Our company improves the educational level/ skills of the hired employees by the provision of

training programs. The provision of these program covers the need for acquirement of

innovative skills as well’.

‘A major change is that work has become more international. Nowadays it does not suffice to

only have command of the Dutch language. Because the rail market has bees liberalised, rail

companies are branching out. Employees must know multiple languages and have knowledge of

foreign procedures and legal issues. Of course, there is also the IT component that has become

the backbone of good logistics. Our employees must be well versed in this respect as well.

In principle, education is sufficient. However, there is a need for new learning environments

(e.g. simulators) and good practical training. The latter is of course an issue as there are

security issues and we have to carefully instruct newcomers. We cannot just let them try in a

backyard; they must experience the real deal. For those coming from higher education, they

mostly possess the intellectual capacities to learn quickly, so they are fine’.

‘To acquire the desired skills necessary to function within the job in our company, in every case

additional training is needed. We ourselves are too small to develop training strategies and/or

offer in-company training. Therefore we closely cooperate with the university in our area ’.

‘Our employees do not need really innovative skills. We do ask them however for exceptive

flexibility. In general, the railway men in our country are well trained and experienced.

Professional training is not necessarily needed, only if some special tasks have to be fulfilled.

There is one disadvantage: lack of language knowledge. Therefore, our company supports

colleagues in learning languages by offering free lessons’.

‘We are on our way to liberalise the railway system. Competition will increase and we need

people that are equipped with commercial instincts, creative minds and a sense of thinking in

products and their design.

At the moment, the training and education programmes provided are definitely not sufficient to

acquire the desired skills necessary to function within the job. We need people who combine

knowledge of the technical aspects of rail transport, insights in logistics and forwarding and an

interest in the commercial and business end. There is no real degree that covers all these fields.

At a minimum a Bachelor’s degree of this sort would be needed’.

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

Human capital perspective: prognoses skill shortages 2020

For this specific element it is referred to the Working Document on job quality.

38

Job quality (excl. training and career opportunities)

General

According to the EESC, the continual pressure for productivity increases and

cost-cutting within the sector is resulting in a two-tier work force and a decline

in working conditions.1

According to ETF, payment and working conditions in the sector are less

favourable.

Employment quality: Remuneration and benefits

Potential earnings are an important determinant of the attractiveness of the rail

transport sector for employees.

Table 4.3 shows the average wage per employee in 2009, for four broader

transport sectors compared to the total business economy (excl. financial and

insurance activities) in the EU 27 (based on EUROSTAT’s Structural Business

Statistics – SBS).

Table 4.2 Average wage per employee by broader transport sector in the EU 27,

2009 (in Euro's)

Country Total

business

economy

except

financial

and

insurance

activities

Land

transport

and

transport via

pipelines

Water

transport

Air

transport

Warehousing

and support

activities for

transportation

European

Union (27

countries)

23.666 21.351 n/a 49.503 27.992

Source: SBS (Eurostat)

Compared to the total business economy (excl. financial and insurance activities)

average wage per employee in the sector land transport and transport via

pipelines is lower (€23.666 against €21.351).

According to ERFA, workers employed in rail freight operations are well paid,

Employment quality: Job flexibility (working hours, working time arrangement,

time flexibility)

In the view to ERFA, rail freight operations require a lot of willingness from

people. Though well paid, it is also a complex and hard job with the requirement

to work at night and in the weekend. However, compared to for instance truck

driver or seafarer, train driver can be considered a quality job. Train drivers

cannot work more than two days away from home. Despite this, there is no clear

1 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy.

39

evidence that the willingness to become a train driver is changing. However

there seems to be an intellectual barrier to become a train driver according to

ERFA.

In the view of ETF, the many shifts at night and/or during weekends make the

sector unattractive for (young) people.

Work quality: Physical working conditions, health variables and risks of accidents

In this respect, ERFA points at the highly important and very stringent medical

criteria. The requirement to be 100% clean of alcohol and drugs is an increasing

issue with young people. Over 10% of applicants get rejected as they are not

even prepared to do the test.

Depending on the railway safety-system in the respective country more is

demanded from driving personnel in being vigilant. The safety aspect in relation

with harassment of train conductors is a serious issue in some countries. This

has sometimes a bad connotation towards supply in railway personnel in those

countries.

Commission staff also points at third party violence (linked to the urban public

transport discussions on security and feelings of insecurity). This negatively

influences the (the image of) the working conditions in the railway sector.

Work quality: Meaningfulness of work

Commission staff points at the low job attractiveness of the rail transport sector

compared to other sectors such aviation (see below).

Job attractiveness

The attractiveness of jobs in the rail transport sector depends strongly on the

quality of the jobs in this sector. As described above, job quality is a

multidimensional concept that covers many different aspects, varying from

wages, formal training and (flexibility in) working hours to health implications of

work, work autonomy and the meaningfulness of work.

The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) contains indicators of aspects

of job quality/job attractiveness. The table below compares the for the four

broader transport modes to the total of all sectors.

40

Table 4.3 Employees’ experience/perception of aspects of job quality/attractiveness

by broader transport mode, compared to the total of all sectors

(2010, EU27)

Land Water Air Warehous

ing and

support

activities

Changes of work schedule (no) - o - o

Involvement in work organisation/processes (always) - + - -

Employee representation (yes) + + + +

Raising issues with employee representative (yes) + + + +

On-the-job training (yes) - + + +

More secure jobs because of training (yes) o n.s. n.s. +

Better employment prospects because of training (yes) - + + +

Solving unforeseen problems on one’s own (yes) + + + -

Exposure to vibrations form machinery etc (never) - - - -

Exposure to loud noise (never) - - - -

Exposure to breathing in vapours (never) + - + +

Involvement of tiring or painful positions (never) - + + o

Involvement of repetitive hand/arm movements (never) - + - -

Health or safety at risk because of work (no) - - - -

Health affected by work (no) - - - -

Short repetitive tasks (no) - + - +

Ability to choose/change speed/rate work (yes) - - - -

Feeling of doing useful work (always) - o + -

Emotionally involved in work (always) - - - -

+ = above average; o = average; - = below average

n.s. = not significant

Source: EWCS 2010

The (EWCS) also contains the following indicators of overall job quality/job

attractiveness:

Satisfaction with working conditions (how satisfied respondents are with

working conditions in their main paid job ; measured on a 4-point scale).

Satisfaction with wage (the extent to which respondents find that they are

well paid for the work they do; measured on a 5-point scale).

Motivation to perform (the extent to which respondents feel motivated by

their organisation to give their best job performance; measured on a 5-point

scale).

41

Table 4.4 Indicators of overall job quality/job satisfaction by broader transport

sector (2010, EU27)

Satisfaction with working conditions (4 point scale)

Satisfaction with wage (5 point scale)

Motivation to perform (5 point scale)

Transport sector Mean St.dev. Mean St.dev. Mean St.dev.

Land transport and transport via pipelines

2.89 0.72 2.91 1.12 3.38 1.09

Water transport 3.14 0.75 3.74 1.09 3.72 1.1

Air transport 3.18 0.66 3.4 1.18 3.87 0.91 Warehousing and support activities for transportation

3.01 0.66 3.22 1.26 3.43 1.16

Total transport sector 2.94 0.72 3 1.15 3.44 1.09

Source: EWCS 2010 (Eurofound)

The satisfaction with working conditions of employees in the transport sector as

a whole and their motivation to perform are higher than their satisfaction with

wage. This also goes for employees in land transport and transport via pipelines.

On all three indicators, employees in land transport and transport via pipelines

score lower than the total group of transport employees.

4.3 Information asymmetries

4.3.1 General information asymmetries

In the case of labour market information asymmetries, the demand and supply

should actually be balanced, but employers and job seekers are unable to find to

one another due to job search and recruitment strategies that do not respond to

each other. This may also be induced by flawed images of the (sub)sector or of

(groups of) job seekers (or groups thereof) which prevent a better match of

supply and demand.

The following trends hold for the EU transport labour market as a whole:

Working image: In general, the working image of the transport sector is

less favourable, mostly related to job quality (employment- and work

quality). The sector is also seen as male-dominated and old-fashioned and

conservative. Partly, the negative image is a matter of perception and/or lack

of knowledge.

Comparability/compatibility: As the labour market is becoming more and

more international, it becomes a problem if qualifications used in various

countries are difficult to compare.

Recruitment: Many modes still use traditional types of recruitment. In

general, in recruitment the transport sector does not focus on specific target

groups, such as women.

42

4.3.2 Specific information asymmetries rail transport

Working image

According to Commission staff, recruitment is hampered by the old-fashioned

and unattractive image of the railway sector. The sector is in need of new blood,

but the influx of youngsters is hindered by this image.

In the view of ERFA, there is an intellectual barrier to become a train driver.

Also in the view of ETF, the working image of the sector is poor. Railway work is

considered to be a dirty job. The railway sector is unattractive to young people

to work in.

Experience/view of individual rail transport companies

‘Our company dealt many times with the negative image that the national media give to it. It

tries to improve this image via seminars, press-releases and meetings with journalists’.

‘I recognise this negative image, but unlike policymakers believe: the information era does not

negate the industrial era. We still need transport and physical services. Moreover, there still

must be work left for the uneducated to do, this is a fact of life. Of course there are issues with

loud noise, noise pollution, physical labour, long hours, and so on. But we must see it in

proportion to what the rest of society is used to ’.

‘We see the problems presented by the media and in many cases these are real problems. But

as railway undertaking we cannot do much to improve the quality of the infrastructure of the

network supplier. Though we do our best to improve everything possible around our company.

Our company itself, by the way, has a good reputation ’.

‘Of course, the negative image has truth to it: some companies push their employees to the

limit in terms of working time and other working conditions. On the other hand proper

regulations do exist. If, for instance, we look at drivers, they are in great demand and they

have a strong bargaining position, if they are good employees, to demand good working

conditions. On the other hand, pay is a big problem as logistics is too cheap at the moment. If

you look at what the costs are for forwarding goods in Europe, the competition is so fierce and

margins so low that there is no way to increase pay. Again, drivers might earn well if they are

good employees. But the forwarders’ pay is very restrained’.

Source: Enterprise survey by Panteia/PWC

Comparability/compatibility

The different standards in European railways are a barrier to comparability.

Specific training could be developed. At the moment training simulator can be

used in order to speed up learning processes. Also the language differences in

railways are a barrier in comparability.

Recruitment

For the technical jobs, it is difficult to find new people because the young people

do not normally prefer technical education. Moreover, the people with technical

education background prefer to work in other sectors (e.g. telecommunications).

More specific recruitment strategies have to be developed.

43

5 Reduction of discrepancies EU rail transport

labour market

5.1 Introduction

Theoretically, the following strategies for reducing discrepancies on the transport

labour market can be distinguished:

1 More general solutions influencing the context of the (transport) labour

market

2 Promoting inflow:

A. Targeting labour reserves in order to attract new employees to the

sector including the recruitment of the unemployed and other groups

currently not working in the transport sector, existing immigrant groups

and labour migrants.

B. Stimulating and facilitating education for potential employees

among others the creation of new specific learning paths, of campaigns

stimulating people to choose for an educational and occupational path in

the sector and of an institutional improvement of the connection between

labour market and education in general.

3 Preventing outflow/ diminishing labour demand:

A. Improving the situation of current employees in order to optimise

their potential as well as prevent them from leaving the sector for instance

by the introduction of (re)training programs, professionalising the sector

and providing more career perspectives for existing employees and

improving the working conditions.

B. Improving the operational management/ labour productivity of

organisations for example through the use of new technologies, treatment

methods etc. and/or (innovative) changes in functions and organisation.

The solutions in all of these categories are relevant for the EU transport labour

market as a whole.

5.2 General solutions to discrepancies rail transport

EU policies, programs and regulations

The main social issues involved in the development of a Single European Railway

Area will arise from the restructuring needed to transform the current national

railway operators (the ‘incumbents’) into passenger transport operators able to

operate throughout Europe in fair competition with many newcomers and the

other passenger transport modes. They will also have to share the infrastructure

with European multimodal freight operators1.

1 Source: ‘Assessment of social impacts’ of the Impact Assessment corresponding to the 4th

Railways package proposal.

44

ERFA is of the opinion that EU can play a role in standardisation of regulations

and should push for EU training schemes, and could possibly provide grants for

this.

Economic and social

According to Commission staff, there have been several projects on women in

the rail transport sector. This also comprises a yearly benchmarking of the

number of women in rail. At the moment there are discussions what the best

indicators are for ascertaining the efficacy of these projects.

Social dialogue

Within the social dialogue the barriers for certificates between countries can be

reduced as a dialogue between organisation in different member states. However

the implementation of cross acceptance of certificates is a legal issue that needs

a follow up by the European Commission.

Technological and environmental

The implementation of ERTMS in leads to a more efficient operation of trains as

well as freight as passenger trains. It is assumed that capacity of the

infrastructure increases and at the same time safety increases. This will lead to

increase of demand for highly skilled labour, at the same time overall demand

for labour is likely to diminish as their productivity increases. The widespread of

use of simulators could enhance the training of personnel more efficiently than

training on the job.

5.3 Promoting inflow

A. Targeting labour reserves

As mentioned previously, women are largely underrepresented in the workforce.

Actions could be targeted towards certain gender aspects.

B. Stimulating and facilitating education for potential employees

Improving the image of (study and) work in the sector According to Commission

staff, some new companies, such as a fully private funded Italian high-speed rail

operator, have been able to attract young people who are willing or even eager

to work with new technology. This company has been able to create a much

more positive image.

5.4 Preventing outflow/ diminishing labour demand

A. Improving the situation of current employees

General

Not all the needed restructuring takes place between firms. Internal

restructuring is also needed and the latter requires flexibility in order that staff

and resources can provide the best of themselves, while providing good working

conditions and respecting safety legislation. The employability of individual

workers will have to be strengthened, first of all within their firms, but also in

45

the railways sector and the transport sector at large. Internal flexibility will

reduce the need for external restructuring 1.

In 2007 the European Social Dialogue Committee of the railway sector signed

joint recommendations on ‘The concept of employability in the railway sector’.

During a conference in 2008, stock was taken of the implementation of

employability as a new concept for HR policy and its impact on Social Dialogue

and collective bargaining at the company level. The conference also gave new

impetus for the realisation of the employability concept.2 Next, in project funded

by the EU The European social partners in the rail sector, i.e. the Community of

European Railways and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the European Rail

Infrastructure Managers (EIM), and the European Transport Workers’ Federation

(ETF), together with the EVA European Academy for Environmentally Friendly

Transport have worked on the challenges of the demographic change in the

context of a project funded by the European Union. The result is a guide with

more than thirty examples of good practices, addressing the issue of

demographic change and employability in the European railway companies.

Besides recruitment and education, these actions center on further education and

qualifications, health promotion, and appropriate working conditions for the

various life phases.3

Training and career opportunities

Skill shortages could be critical, for example, in the deployment of ERTMS which

should provide the central system of the Single European Railway Area. Drivers,

maintenance workers, inspectors and network traffic managers need to upgrade

their skills to adapt to the digital era. Training means should be deployed in a

timely manner. EU instruments such as the European Social Fund and national

instruments should be used to increase the employability of workers, in particular

through training. Existing or newly recruited network management employees

and public procurement officials will also need training to be able to live up to

the requirements of their crucial roles4.

In the view of the EESC, the progressive ageing of the existing rail personnel and

increasing recruitment problems require adequate training and lifelong learning

programmes for different age groups of employees to be developed 5.

According to Commission staff, at the moment there is no clear view on the

solutions and who should be involved in the implementation, apart from the

establishment of a European network of training centres or European Railway

Academy, which was proposed before but never materialised.

1 Source: ‘Assessment of social impacts’ of the Impact Assessment corresponding to the 4th

Railways package proposal. 2 CER, EIM and ETF (2008), Conference Report Employability– an HR strategy for shaping

change in the railway sector. 3 CER, EIM and ETF (2011), Employability in the face of demographic change – Prospects

for the European rail sector. A practical guide to design the future. 4 Source: ‘Assessment of social impacts’ of the Impact Assessment corresponding to the 4th

Railways package proposal. 5 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy.

46

In the view of ERFA, Ministries of Education and /or Social Affairs and

Employment and Public Employment Services could play a role in reducing

shortages. There is a struggle to obtain training. For instance in the UK, the

market in the UK is so mobile that there is a continuous need to train drivers,

but there are hardly any training centres to go to.

Employment quality (excl. training and career opportunities)

According to ETF, the less favourable working image of the sector can be

changed by offering higher salaries to the staff.

Work quality

With the opening of markets and increased cross-border services, the monitoring

and enforcement of working, driving and rest times as well as of drivers'

qualification levels is necessary. The EESC recommends introducing EU

legislation for the regular checking of working and rest time for mobile railway

workers engaged in cross-border transport services .1

Apart from the current joint projects on the identification and prevention of

psychosocial risks in the railway sector and on insecurity and the feeling of

insecurity in rail passenger transport, Commission staff points at the following

initiatives:

Mobile workers crossing borders, international freight and public transport.

The goal was to set minimum requirements for working conditions2

Setting up technical specification of interoperability. This has impact on

ergonomics and working conditions (e.g. toilets on freight trains).

In the view of ETF, making the working conditions better would make the sector

more attractive to work in. Competition between the employers for making the

working conditions better, would also contribute to this.

B. Improving the operational management/ labour productivity

Multifunctional positions and multitasking

Multifunctional positions and multitasking can provide substantial incentives for

younger people to work in the railway sector. Young people prefer to have the

possibility to try different tasks in order to acquire more skills and be better

prepared for possible changes in the labour market, looking at it as a life-

learning experience. In addition, multitasking provides more opportunities for

flexible time schedule, which is more acceptable for some specific worker groups,

such as women, due to maternity-related reasons. In general, such measures

could substantially reduce the risk of workforce shortages to railway

undertakings, provide more opportunities to specific workforce groups as well as

introduce more flexibility3.

1 EESC (2011), TEN/445. Social aspects of EU Transport Policy. 2 This was a concrete contribution of social dialogue to working conditions, although

minimum standards are actually not enough. See for instance the non-regression

principle in the Treaty and the fact that these common agreements lead to worsened

conditions in some Member States, e.g. the circumstances for Austria. 3 Source: ‘Assessment of social impacts’ of the Impact Assessment corresponding to the 4th

Railways package proposal.

47

6 Conclusions and recommendations

This Chapter presents the main conclusions drawn from this study with regards

to the maritime labour market, including ports. In is based on the information in

this Annex 15 and on information presented in the main report. The last section

presents a set of recommendations.

6.1 Sub-sectors and job types

The rail transport labour market has been analysed along the following four sub-

sectors:

Infra-management;

Passenger;

Freight;

Urban rail (mainly covered in the Road Annex, in the broader urban public

transport sections).

The relevant job types in railway transport considered in this report are:

Locomotive and train drivers;

Conductors;

Rail operation professionals (brake, signal and switch operators);

Attendants (passengers only);

Management;

Back-office;

Maintenance staff;

Engineers;

The table below shows the number of employed persons in the rail transport

sector according to the definition given above. Over the past decade, the total

employment in rail transport has seen a sharp decline. Of the total transport

employment, 7,3% works in the railway sector.

Table 6.1 Employment (occupied persons, in 1000s) in transportation and storage

(excl. postal and courier activities) by transport mode, EU 27, 2008, 2009 and

2010

2008 2009 2010

Change

2009-2010

(in 1,000s)

Total 9571.7 9433.5 9344.7 -88.8

Rail 689.8 691.0 685.1 -5.8

Share rail in total 7.2% 7.3% 7.3%

Source: Panteia based on Eurostat

In 2010 a majority (510,400) of the employees were working in rail passenger

transport and a minority (174,700) in freight transport. The main job types in

the rail market are (both passenger and freight): ‘locomotive and train drivers’

48

(272,000), ‘(transport) conductors’ (174,000) and ‘railway brake, signal and

switch operators’ (66,000).

The share of young workers (15-24 years of age) in land transport1 is less than

the EU overall average in 2010. The share of workers aged 50 or older (31%) is

above EU overall average. The ageing problem is therefore more imminent in

land transport than in EU labour market in general. 81% of the land transport

workforce is male.

6.2 Data and literature

It should be noted that some methodological problems have arisen in relation to

the figures above. The development of the employment in the railway sector

cannot be determined in exact percentages and figures, as extensive and

continuous restructuring within the sector is always ongoing. This has resulted in

a heterogeneous market structure, in which large rail companies have created

separate divisions for different types of services and/or outsourced services to

companies active in other sectors. This makes it difficult to attain a clear

representation of the development of employment in the past and of the current

employment levels.

Furthermore, many EUROSTAT data are only available at a higher aggregation

level (‘land transport and transport through pipelines’). In addition to rail

transport, this category includes road transport, which is a much larger mode

and therefore, has a greater influence on the average results.

Literature on the rail transport labour market is very limited. Most studies are

only with regards to employability.

6.3 Social dialogue

In the ‘Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee Rail Transport’, the Employers’

organisations Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies

(CER), European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) and employees' organisation

European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), are represented. All three

organisations have confirmed that this committee is functioning sufficiently, and

has lead to a large number of results.

The European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), an association of the new entrants

of freight rail operators, is not yet a member of the Sectoral Dialogue

Committee. It has not provided the necessary information for the Commission to

assess the criteria laid down in the Commission Decision of 20 May 1998 on the

establishment of Sectoral Dialogue Committees promoting the Dialogue between

the social partners at European level.

At national level, industrial relations are very sector specific: in most Member

States there is no employer organisation; collective bargaining is often held at

enterprise level, because traditionally only the incumbent operator existed and

1 data concerns ‘land transport and transport through pipelines’, dominated in terms of

averages by road freight transport.

49

still represents a large market share in most countries. Union organisation is

fragmented, but has a large representation, however, strikes are not uncommon.

6.4 Railway undertakings and policies

The EU ‘Acquis’ on railways has consistently encouraged competitiveness and

market opening. The legislation is based on a distinction between infrastructure

managers who run the network and the railway operators that use it for

transporting passengers or freight.

The freight market is completely liberalised, both between and within Member

States. The passenger market is liberalised on cross-border services and is

becoming more and more open for competition at Member State level. However,

in most Member States the incumbent operator (the former state-owned

companies) still runs national passenger transport, but regional lines are often

open to competition.

Although EU regulation has provided open access for all EU rail freight transport

operators since 1 January 2007, there are still countries that restrict the access

of foreign rail freight companies to their network.

The 4th Railway Package, which is currently under discussion with the Council

and the EU Parliament, seeks further opening of railway markets and increasing

separation of infrastructure management and railway operation. It remains

uncertain if and when the liberalisation pillar will be adopted, as opposition

towards this pillar appears to be growing in several Member States.

The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is an initiative backed by

the European Union to enhance cross-border interoperability and the

procurement of signalling equipment by creating a single Europe-wide standard

for train control and command systems. ERTMS will provide the central system of

the Single European Railway Area. The two main components of ERTMS are the

European Train Control System (ETCS), a standard for in-cab train control and

GSM-R, the GSM mobile communications standard for railway operations.

6.5 Demand and supply of labour and skills

There are several trends influencing the demand for labour in the railway sector:

Continuous restructuring of operators to increase productivity and to

decrease costs and in most cases employment reduction.

Restrictions in access to other Member States' networks (in spite of EU law

providing for open access) have a negative impact on employment.

Promoting single wagon load transport allows a credible environmental

alternative to road and generates employment as this transport model is

labour intensive.

New market entrants in the rail freight business concentrate on block train

services which need limited labour.

Investment in the development of new infrastructure and the improvement of

existing networks will create jobs in maintenance and support services for

this new infrastructure.

50

Trends influencing supply are:

The attractiveness of working in the sector is low.

Many employees will be retiring over the next years.

There is a continuous need to train drivers, but there may be too few public

training centres. The big companies have their own training centers, so this

would be an issue for small enterprises. The MS did not report such a deficit.

A relatively new phenomenon in the rail transport sector is self-employment

(self-employed locomotive and train drivers - for instance in France - mainly

in rail freight services).

6.5.1 Panorama 1: Current situation

The economic crisis has affected railway freight transport and new market

entrants are suffering the most from this. Railway freight transport seems to be

recovering slowly. The impact on rail passengers’ traffic has not been as large as

in freight transport, as passenger transport is mostly financed by public service

contracts which clearly specify the number of services. Moreover, the crisis has

led to a positive modal shift towards rail and the younger generations are using

public transport more than older generations. The incumbent operators are

negatively influenced by the implementation of austerity policies in combination

with the reduction of public budgets.

Railway operators experience difficulties attracting new employees, although the

extent differs markedly per staff category. Train drivers, dispatch and control-

command staff prove hard to find. The railway sector is especially facing

recruitment problems at the level of higher education. Despite this situation,

however, railway operators were in the recent past, not engaged in specific

recruiting initiatives targeted at women or groups of people who often hold

marginal positions in labour markets (ethnic minorities, disabled people).

6.5.2 Panorama 2: Window 2015-2020

Labour shortages will most likely increase in the future. Future employment

trends in transport depend on factors, such as the development of trade and

economic activities, an ageing population and people's mobility patterns,

technological developments, energy availability and prices. Measures towards

sustainable transport and alternative transport modes are amongst factors that

are particularly positive for rail transport in economic terms and therefore,

increase labour demand.

A reduction in the use of labour-intensive single wagons transport is noticeable,

due to less labour-intensive block trains being used in freight transport instead.

New technologies, such as ERTMS or automatic shunting systems are also labour

rationalisation technologies, which mainly affect traffic control personnel or

shunting professions. Part of the technological innovations will decrease the level

of the required skills. However, the introduction of the ERTMS will require higher

skills and knowledge.

51

In the period 2010-2020 total employment (demand) in the transport and

storage sector in the EU-27 is expected to decrease annually by -0.1%. The

decrease is expected to be concentrated in non-transport related labour. On the

other hand however, an increase in employment is expected within the most

important rail transport occupations: locomotive and train drivers, railway brake,

signal and switch operators and transport conductors (annually +0.7%, +0.6%

and 0.7% against an average of 0.0%).

The labour supply for the most relevant rail transport related occupations -

locomotive and train drivers, railway brake, signal and switch operators and

transport conductors, decreased in both scenario’s that were elaborated in this

study. One determining factor therein, is the ageing of the workforce. In scenario

1 (general trends) the supply of the most relevant rail transport occupations -

locomotive and train drivers, railway brake, signal and switch operators and

transport conductors - show the same growth rate as the average for all

transport-related occupational categories (in 2010-2020 annually -0.1%). In

scenario 2 (increasing participation older workers) supply of locomotive and train

drivers, railway brake, signal and switch operators and transport conductors

increase (1.1% annually).

Shortages are currently being reported for these professions and as the demand

further increases and supply is reduced, these shortages will continue to

increase. All railway enterprises in the targeted stakeholder consultation foresee

skill or labour shortages in 2015-2020. Also, 27% (of 11 participants) is

expecting redundancies. However, should policies influencing the participation of

older workers prove successful, then this will not be the case.

6.6 Attractiveness of working in the sector

The working image of rail transport is poor. Railway work is considered to be a

‘dirty’ and dangerous job; the sector has an old-fashioned and unattractive

image. This opinion is shared by experts and supported by research findings.

Compared to the total business economy (excl. financial and insurance

activities). The average wage per employee in the land transport sector (rail,

road) is less than average1. The satisfaction of employees with their working

conditions and their motivation to perform is higher than the satisfaction of

employees with their wages. On all three indicators, land transport employees

score lower than the total group of transport employees.

The strong focus on costs in the liberalised parts of rail transport implies

pressure on labour conditions. As in other modes – and other sectors where low-

skilled labour forms a substantial part of the cost of doing business – some

employers try to cut back costs by using disputable constructions when hiring

staff. Due to the shortage of train drivers, this seems less of a problem in the

rail sector than in other transport modes.

1 In the survey on job satisfaction there is no distinction between (road and rail)

52

Relevant specific issues for mobile staff are:

Safety and responsibility aspects require constant vigilance.

Third party violence/ harassment.

Many shifts at night and/or during weekends.

In land transport and pipelines 472 fatal accidents occurred in 2011, 77% of all

fatal accidents in transport in EU271. The fatal incidence rate in land transport

was 8.39. So, on average more than 8 out of 100,000 workers in land transport

died in a job-related accident. This largely exceeds the fatal incidence rate of all

EU27 transport in 2011 (5.75).

Nearly 160,000 non-fatal accidents occurred in land transport and pipelines in

2011. In 92% of those accidents male workers were involved. The number of

non-fatal accidents in land transport is fluctuating in 2008-2011: the number

decreased in 2009, increased in 2010 and again decreased in 2011. The non-

fatal incidence rate of EU27 land transport was just over 2,800 in 2011; slightly

above the non-fatal incidence rate of all EU27 transport.

6.7 Education, training and certification

Although the European context is not homogeneous, rail occupations generally

require fairly limited training and low ISCED level when conducting is considered.

It should also be considered that, on one side, limited requirements should lead

to ease the capacity to promptly meet eventual increase in demand, nevertheless

some respondents to the survey launched during the study, reported a lack of

training centres, thus hindering the potential expansion of the profession and

creating potential for a gap between demand and supply.

Differently, as the profession increases in complexity (i.e. locomotive engine

drivers, etc.) the educational and training path increases in length and the

ISCED level required, too, but the heterogeneity among EU countries still

remains and even widens. In these professions in particular - as survey

respondents reported - the number of qualifications has increased in the last

three years – in line with increasing demand – but a relevant share of capacity is

not exploited in many Member States, indicating still a certain difficulty in

attracting employment. While the increase in the last years’ number of

qualifications granted seems encouraging, the demand increase is expected to

exceed in the long run this trend, especially where educational and training path

are long enough to prevent quick responses to market needs.

The training path required to become a railway brake, signal and switch operator

may vary widely across the European Union, from a minimum duration of 1 year

to a maximum of 3 years. Usually, a 3rd or 4th ISCED level is required

throughout the European Union. Information concerning the training supply is

mostly lacking, however, based on available information the number of

qualifications granted between 2010 and 2012 decreased steadily. The future

1 Non-fatal and fatal incidence rates of individual transport modes in 2008-2010 are not

available. Source: EUROSTAT.

53

increasing demand for this profession seems to be met by the additional training

capacity of the Member States.

The rail sector is heterogeneous throughout Europe, the potential gap between

qualifications granted and demand for professionals could be filled by tackling

main issues which consists in the lack of attractiveness for rail professions and

limited work mobility due to the differences between Member States in terms of

infrastructures and equipment. As respondents to the survey pointed out, the

extent of these problems differ markedly per staff category. The rail transport

sector is especially facing recruitment problems at the level of higher education,

notably on locomotive engine drivers.

6.8 Conclusions: bottlenecks and risks

The main problems in the rail labour market that have been identified in the

study are given below.

To facilitate more precise and useful analyses, better data are required.

Shortage of predominantly locomotive and train drivers, railway brake, signal

and switch operators, (transport) conductors and higher educated staff, which

is connected to:

Ageing workforce.

Changing requirements. Skill shortages could be critical, for example, in

the deployment of ERTMS which should provide the central system of the

Single European Railway Area.

Possibly an Insufficient number of training places in public training

centres.

Increasing number of self-employed drivers (being at the same time the

costly alternative to hiring employees)?

Unattractiveness of work in railway transport. The working image of the

railway sector is poor. Railway work is considered to be ‘dirty’, dangerous

and old-fashioned and work autonomy is low. Stress is derived from safety

issues, time-pressures and efficiency improvements.

Required flexibility (working hours, different shifts).

Very low share of women in the workforce.

6.9 Policy suggestions

This section presents a number of suggestions to solve or prevent arising or

current problems and to inspire rather than provide policy measures ready for

implementation. As a number of issues are already occurring and the railway

sector is highly visible and unionised, many measures have been or are being

implemented. As a result, comparatively a large amount of information on good

practices has been disseminated. Specifically on employability and recruitment a

number of in-depth studies have been published that include advice on how to

improve the current situation. Employers play a crucial role herein. Below, we

include some examples from:

EVA, 2011, ‘Employability in the face of demographic change-prospects for

the European rail sector: a practical guide for the future’, Requested by

European sectoral social dialogue rail.

54

ETF, 2012, ‘Women in Rail: Good practices and implementation guide ’,

Requested by European sectoral social dialogue rail.

Shortage of especially locomotive and train drivers, railway brake, signal and

switch operators, transport conductors and higher educated staff

As discussed, shortages already occur and are expected to become more

profound. To reduce these discrepancies, a combination of (policy) measures

should be undertaken, focussed on the underlying causes described above.

Examples and further suggestions per issue are discussed below.

A few more general observations can be made. Firstly, railway operators do not

seem fully aware of the occurring issues with regards to recruiting young people.

On the other hand, the many initiatives we found would suggest otherwise. As

the employers must have a key role in most measures, it is crucial they are

aware and convinced of the fact all employers will have to make a contribution.

Secondly, the labour market for drivers is not functioning well. Issues are

incomparability of competences and obstructions in job mobility in the context of

refunding training costs.

Ageing

The ageing population effects both inflow (reduced) and outflow (increased) of

employees, ceteris paribus. The impact can be reduced or at least delayed:

keeping older employees productive will reduce the need for new workers. The

employability of individual workers will have to be strengthened, first of all

within their firms, but also in the railways sector and the transport sector as a

whole (see further elaboration under ‘training places’).

The declining number of young people entering the labour market combined with

the growing demand for labour, implies that the rail sector needs to find ways to

attract a larger share of young people to work in the sector.

Preventing (early) outflow of older employees is a break with current practice. In

many MS, early or part-time retirement is common. With the right approach,

using age specific lifelong learning and individual career paths, the goal should

be to retain all employees until retirement age on a full-time basis. Career paths

could also consist of different tasks or even other jobs within the sector.

The EVA publication contains a large number of examples of employability

policies (mainly at enterprise level). Elements that look promising are:

Strategic analysis of competences – matching supply and demand. This

provides the information required to draft realistic career paths and start

training programs in time. An example is the Competence Matrix.

Every employee should set up his/her career plan within the company, or

even outside of it. Employers should facilitate this by providing the necessary

information, e.g. on expected demand of competences, career prospects in

the transport sector and about offers of further education and training.

Employees and employers have a shared responsibility to develop his/her

employability throughout his/her working life and especially during the second

part of his/her career. Instruments, for instance the Self-Check 2.0

(SelbstCheck) are available to assist employees and employers (e.g. Company

Check (UnternehmensCheck) 2.0).

55

Secure the empirical knowledge of older employees by a systematic job-

related knowledge transfer to younger colleagues and to enhance the

flexibility in deploying both younger and older employees (trainers are

experienced employees; learners are every other employee).

The more interesting career paths that are available, the greater the chance that

employees can be retained for the sector. Both internal and external job mobility

would be facilitated by the availability of comparable, realistic sets of

competences and job requirements. The EU, working together with the MS, can

play a role in standardisation of regulations and should push for EU training

schemes and possibly provide grants for this. According to sources, current

curricula for train drivers are often overburdened and too lengthy. The EC is

advised to compare the duration between railway undertakings and how it has

evolved.

Changing requirements

Early on we discussed the necessity of strategic competence analysis. This is

relevant for enterprises, schools, sector organisations and public institutions. An

example is a collective agreement in Italy (Work plan on Employment Trends).

The objective is to match job demands and workforce. With support of a

database, both management and employees foster a job matching and turnover

management. Vocational retraining or re-skilling and employee redundancy

management helps to find new employment possibilities for those employees,

who cannot work in their former jobs.

Job Mobility Arenas (Espaces Mobilité Emploi, EME) provide personalised support

to employees and enhanced training to promote their access to meaningful

occupations in the company and to professional qualification schedules. The

career development of employees is encouraged by devising enriching and

qualifying career development options, particularly for employees whose job is at

risk. It is designed to make the right competences available to the company at

the right place and time and encourages functional and geographical mobility.

The Bulgarian company NRIC underwent a restructuring process that is

associated with shifting and releasing of workers. To retain as many workers as

possible, NRIC gives the employees who are liable to be dismissed, the

opportunity for requalification. For that purpose the HR department prepares a

list of qualification courses according to the present or expected vacant

positions. A worker liable to be dismissed can apply for a chosen qualification

course according to the list. In case of approval by the General Manager, a

binding 3- to 5-year contract for the new position is signed. Under comparable

conditions, a financial support programme is directed at current employees who

are studying for certain university degrees in the railway transport area.

Drivers, maintenance workers, inspectors and network traffic managers need to

upgrade their skills to adapt to the digital era (a.o. ERTMS). Training means

should be deployed in a timely manner. EU instruments, such as the European

Social Fund and national instruments should be used to increase the

employability of workers and in particular, through training. Existing or newly

recruited network management employees and public procurement officials will

also need training to be able to live up to the requirements of their crucial roles.

56

Another interesting programme is Workplace Innovation (Netherlands). It is

aimed at improving the relations between employer and employees, by reaching

a situation of adult labour relations in which the employee takes responsibility

for their employability and career, supported and facilitated by their employer.

Underlying projects include:

create awareness of the need for change

create movement (talent classes, job rotation, creativeness courses,

stimulating technological innovation)

incorporate ideas for workplace innovation into company.

Finally, timely efforts should be made to introduce multi-linguism as a criterion

before starting the driver training and build up language capacities amongst

drivers.

Insufficient number of training places

There is a lack of public training places, in particular. This opinion seems to be

broadly agreed upon. However, there is no clear view on the solutions and who

should be involved in the implementation. The establishment of a European

network of training centres or European Railway Academy was proposed, but

never materialised. This implies a competitive advantage for large companies,

already dominating the sector. At the very least, training facilities on safety

issues should be available to all relevant staff. It was suggested that regulators

and safety authorities, including the cooperation between the two of them, were

to ensure access to training facilities. The widespread use of simulators could

enhance the training of personnel more efficiently than training on the job and

increase their productivity.

Increasing number of self-employed drivers?

An increasing number of self-employed drivers is as such, not considered a

bottleneck. As long as shortages occur, social dumping is not expected to take

place. However, developments in other modes should be taken into

consideration. False self-employment, however, does occur there and with the

small number of employers in rail transport, this could become a serious issue.

Another threat results from the need for all drivers to develop or maintain

competences. Self-employed usually focus more on money earning activities, but

are responsible for keeping their knowledge up-to-date. Ultimately, this could

result in outdated competences or even (legal) barriers to being allowed to work

and therefore, would increase shortages. Access to relevant training should be

monitored by MS and the EC. If necessary, they should promote participation by

self-employed. Actual participation is of course the responsibility of the self-

employed.

It is unattractive to work in rail transport

The working image of rail transport is poor. It will require a major, multi-focus

effort to make railway work more attractive and therefore, reduce the (expected)

shortages. We divided possible further actions into:

Campaigns to improve image and recruit new workers

Improve working conditions

Change contents of jobs

57

Activities in the specific contexts of attracting female workers and of required

flexibility are discussed in the following sections.

Campaigns to improve image and recruit new workers are first and foremost the

responsibility of employers. As it would appear, the image of the sector is

somewhat ‘unfair’ and an important challenge is to emphasise the increasing

high-tech nature of the sector and future job opportunities. Providing factual

information through for instance, websites targeted primarily at young people,

may contribute. Information could include job and training possibilities, facts

concerning labour conditions, etc. Given the currently high unemployment

figures all across Europe, the advantageous job perspectives in rail transport

should be highlighted.

Interesting examples from several MS show a focus on early school years.

Deutsche Bahn has School Cooperation Agreements meant to improve the

transition from school to occupational life and to support occupational guidance

at an early stage:

Help find the right occupation (schools and pupils),

Enable teachers and pupils to gain practical experience with railway

occupations

Explicitly support the transition to work practice,

Ensure early contact with and retain interesting candidates.

Improving working conditions would make the sector more attractive to work in.

Competition between the employers for making the working conditions better,

would also contribute to this.

As discussed before, many elements of ‘working conditions’ are currently scoring

below average, even though substantial efforts have already been made and are

still being made today. Given the image problem, employers would be advised to

share positive results (good practices) with their competitors and the public. The

EVA publication provides a large number of examples, for instance, concerning

health promotion: instruments such as risk analysis, working groups, awareness-

raiding actions, job-related screening of healthy employees, management

support, selfchecks, etc. There are already current joint projects on the

identification and prevention of psychosocial risks in the railway sector and on

insecurity and the feeling of insecurity in rail passenger transport. In addition,

setting up technical specifications of interoperability can have a positive impact

on ergonomics and working conditions (e.g. toilets on freight trains).

The less favourable working image of the sector can be mitigated by offering

higher salaries to the staff. If intended to draw students to the sector, this

should be done some years in advance, before shortages become a serious issue.

After all, the students first need a study choice and to finish their

studies/training before they are actually available for the labour market.

In Bulgaria, NRIC currently runs a yearly evaluation programme and awards a

bonus to employees whose performance is evaluated as ‘excellent’. If a higher

position is vacant, the award-winning employees are promoted. In addition, they

receive a supplement to the monthly salary, extra annual leave, a one-off cash

reward and the opportunity to enhance their qualification at the company’s

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expense. However, literature shows that this type of award has draw-backs and

only has a temporary impact on performance.

It is argued that the monitoring and enforcement of working, driving and rest

times, as well as drivers' qualification levels, should be improved. EU legislation

for the regular checking of working and rest time for mobile railway workers

engaged in cross-border transport services could be introduced. However, it is

unlikely this will do much good for the image even if non-compliance is a great

issue. We have found no proof of this.

Changing job contents could make working in the sector more interesting for

younger people as well. Generally speaking, the use of ICT/internet and the

increasing demands in terms of education can facilitate multifunctional positions

and multitasking. It would make the job more of a challenge and bring more

variety to it, providing substantial incentives for younger people to work in the

railway sector. However, this would only work if the other tasks were equally

interesting and no less in terms of pay, etc. In other words, a very serious social

innovation would be required, shaking up the current organisation, including

desk jobs.

Required flexibility (working hours, broken shifts)

The multitasking mentioned above would also increase opportunities for flexible

time schedules, which is more acceptable for some specific worker groups, such

as women, due to maternity-related reasons. Flexible could either be on a day-

to-day basis, or for instance, allow career breaks in case of personal

circumstances. In Germany, the social partners have concluded a company-level

agreement on long-term working hours accounts for the employees of DB AG.

This long-term working hours account allows a more flexible design of certain life

phases of an individual employee. The long-term working hours account is used

to manage the employee’s future leave-of-absence periods with full pay.

Transitional phases in the working-hour structure and sabbaticals are also made

possible. In order to manage the entitlements accumulated in the long-term

working hour’s accounts, a monetary asset credit/balance is created for each

employee.

Furthermore, a solution should be found for the uneven spread of activities over

the day. In the Netherlands, a suggestion was made by a regional railway

company to have mobile staff doing courier services between busy hours, in

order to enable a good score in a lowest price tendering procedure it was

involved in. Current staff was very much against this. Stapled jobs would be an

alternative, but would certainly not improve the image of working in the sector..

In addition, there is a risk of creating large differences between employees in a

‘shortage job’ and employees in positions for which no shortages exist.

Very low share of women in workforce

An obvious way to tap into previously underutilised sources of labour is to attract

more women. Focussed (recruitment) campaigns on women could include

activities such as: promote technology to replace physical power, present

positive role models (using good visuals), actively seek contact with potential

female candidates, prefer women when qualifications are equal (if legal),

maintain a minimum number of women per group (vocation, department,

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apprenticeship, …), use role models, arrange contacts and co-operations with

schools, etc.

The introduction of multitasking in jobs provides more opportunities for flexible

time schedules, which is more acceptable for some specific worker groups, such

as women, due to maternity-related reasons. In general, closer involvement of

all employees in shift planning has proven very effective in other sectors.

Improving re-entry is an important element as this will help employees on leave

e.g. maternity leave’ to return to work more easily. One could argue ‘late’ entry

in general provides opportunities for the sector. Various types of support (PES,

ESF, …) are available for such actions.

‘Recruiting more women’ should be (kept) on the social dialogue’s agenda at all

levels.