The transport industry’s recruitment crisis

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Working for an airline was once considered a highly glamorous affair. But in an era when flying internationally can be cheaper than taking a taxi, cabin crew are perhaps more pitied than envied. 

It’s not just a rise in unruly, often boozed-soaked passengers that has damaged the attractiveness of the job, but a decline in conditions as airlines seek to gain an ever-sharper competitive edge.

Indeed, the transport industry as a whole is undergoing a recruitment crisis.

The inability to attract young workers, particularly young female workers, has already had serious ramifications – from a lack of lorry drivers compounding supply chain problems to insufficient staff causing summer travel chaos at airports.

Given the profile of the transport sector – it is, after all, an industry that most Europeans interact with on a frequent basis – why is this the case?

The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), a Europe-wide trade union, sought to answer this question at a roundtable discussion last week. In addition to trade unionists, the event was attended by EU lawmakers from the left and right of the political spectrum, and Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean.

Livia Spera, the general secretary of the ETF, kicked off the discussion arguing that the current “endemic shortage” of transport workers has been decades in the making.

It is “the consequence of 30 years of EU policies aimed at liberalising the sector, which put competition at the centre of all political choices,” she argued.

Liberalisation as a force for good or ill emerged as the primary bone of contention.

Trade unionists want more regulation to protect workers from declining standards and unfettered competition, while those on the right say greater liberalisation will force companies to compete for talent, leading to higher wages.

“Nothing will beat good conditions of work and a good salary,” said Commissioner Vălean, herself a former MEP with the centre-right EPP group.

“If you have good work conditions and good salaries, you can bet that you can find people to work for you. If you don’t have either of these two, then it will be difficult,” she added.

The EPP’s Marian-Jean Marinescu, a Romanian lawmaker, rebuffed calls for ever more regulations, arguing that many of the examples of social dumping put forward by the unions are already against EU rules. Additional legislation, he said, would do little to stop the minority of wrongdoers. 

Some of the tales of exploitation relayed by the unions were reminiscent of the rhetoric against capitalism during the communist period, he mused.

MEP Petar Vitanov, a Bulgarian lawmaker with the centre-left S&D group, responded:

“Marian, I also lived behind the Iron Curtain, and I must confess that the exploitation of capitalism is not [just] communist propaganda. I see it now, the exploitation of workers,” he said.

According to Vitanov, as the price of fuel and vehicles is largely fixed, competition has led companies to cut salaries – one of the few variable costs. This has led to an “unacceptable” situation.

On the question of how to encourage more women to enter the sector (only 20% of transport employees are female), a big factor, according to ETF President Frank Moreels, is the aggression transport workers experience.

“Why are we still a male industry? Because of violence towards the staff. Because women do not feel protected when they are a bus driver or when they work in the rail sector,” he said.

MEP Marinescu put forward a more controversial explanation.

“Most of the work in transport is not – this is my personal opinion – for ladies. I don’t want to see ladies throwing luggage as ground handlers at the airport. I would not like to see it because it is not a woman’s work.”

Lest he be taken out of context, Marinescu clarified his remarks:

“I didn’t say that [women] are not able [to work in the sector]. I would not like to see a lady doing hard [labour]… She can work in an office, she can drive a train or a bus or a tram, that could be done, but not all of it.” 

Moderator Livia Spera quipped that while the discussion had gone back 40 years in time, she’d rather look to the future.

But what that future is remains uncertain. Whatever the path – whether through increased regulation or competition – change is needed. If not, expect last summer’s travel woes to become an annual occurrence.

– Sean Goulding Carroll

Highways for the Future?

For a successful transition towards climate neutrality, thousands of infrastructure projects will have to be planned, permitted and constructed.

To cut emissions fast, the planning and permitting – including potential lawsuits, which are the new normal, thanks to the rise of NIMBYs –  better be quick.

But if you reflexively think of railway lines, wind farms and electric grids, hydrogen production and battery factories, you might not see the full picture.

Because according to German liberal and conservative politicians, the transition also requires speeding up the permitting procedures for new motorway projects.

“More speed on planning acceleration,” tweeted liberal FDP boss Christian Lindner, who is also Germany’s finance minister. “We can reduce CO2 unnecessarily produced by traffic jams and detours if our motorways are better developed and connected,” he said.

And the conservative CDU, currently on course to replace social-democratic mayor Franziska Giffey in a regional election in Berlin, even went as far as to say that a new highway through the city centre could be developed as a “climate highway”, mainly by putting solar panels on top.

The greens, fiercely opposing such ideas, would rather see things slow down: They are insisting on a speed limit on the so-far partly limit-free German Autobahn.

This, according to a new study, would save up to 47 tonnes of CO2 (cumulative until 2030), twice as much carbon as previously thought, representing more than one-sixth of the country’s current gap in its transport emissions target.

Accelerating infrastructure, they argue, should meanwhile be limited to the “real” green projects mentioned above. “If you prioritise everything, you prioritise nothing,” they say.

Last Thursday, an infrastructure summit by the federal government coalition parties ended without a concrete result – due to the clearly opposed directions of policy.

Thus, the proposal to accelerate infrastructure projects ends up like most infrastructure projects themselves: It will have to be decided at a higher level, in this case, Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Unfortunately, this might take a while as the chancellor is already overburdened.

– Jonathan Packroff

Farewell to the ‘Queen of the Skies’

Serious jet aficionados may be forgiven for shedding a tear today.

The last ever Boeing 747 is set to be delivered, marking the end of an aviation icon. 

Introduced at the Paris Air Show in 1969, the world’s first jumbo jet went on to become one of the most recognisable and successful models in aviation history.

More than 1,500 planes were produced, with larger models capable of carrying some 500 passengers. 

The sheer size of the world’s first twin-aisle plane was an early talking point – each wing, for example, could accommodate the living space of around four family homes.

Despite its magnitude, the jet was capable of covering the length of a marathon in around two-and-a-half minutes.

“The 747 helped democratise flying for the masses,” said Kim Smith, vice president and general manager of Boeing Fabrication. “It made air flight possible and affordable for people all around the world.”

The jet is also the White House’s model of choice: Air Force One, the US president’s official plane, has been a 747 since the 1990s.

But time does for us all. The four-engine 747 is no longer at the cutting edge, following an industry-wide shift to more efficient and thus environmentally friendly two-engine models.

The final delivery will be made to US-based cargo airline Atlas Air, who have ordered four 747-8 Freighters. Those interested in watching the handover can tune in to a live stream at 10 pm CET.

– Sean Goulding Carroll

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