Concerns around the ongoing investigations on DB Cargo and Fret SNCF are amplifying. The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) demonstrated in Brussels on Tuesday, 12 December, demanding that all investigations be halted. They claim that the impact of restructuring processes in the two companies will be devastating for workers and the industry.

This is not the first time that ETF has openly opposed the restructuring of state-owned rail freight operators. One of the central arguments that ETF deploys concerns rail privatisation, which is seen as a threat to the well-being of railway workers and the industry’s green transition that, according to them, cannot be carried out successfully without robust and competitive state-owned companies.

In addition, ETF claims that the rail freight market’s liberalisation, which commenced in 2006, has not produced the expected results and has instead shrunk rail’s market share rather than expanding it.

Also read: To liberalise or not: is rail freight under attack?

‘Halt investigations’

ETF and ETUC’s demands were made clear while the demonstrating convoy approached EU institutional buildings in Brussels. They are against “Austerity 2.0”, meaning they disapprove of “austerity policies” implemented to tackle financial and fair competition issues of major state-owned companies like DB Cargo and Fret SNCF.

The two organisations explicitly demanded that “the European Commission halt its investigations into these companies and instead designate rail freight as a service of general interest”. They also mentioned that this is the only way to avoid massive job cuts that are included in the rehabilitation plans.