Impact of mobility on transport workers

Author: Editor

2024/07/17 at 11:38 AM

This final article of the MIPACT project provides a brief overview of its activities, presents the results of the research phase, and addresses the general situation and challenges faced by road transport companies and their posted workers in the light of the new rules established by the European Union’s Mobility Package.

Both the general situation of the sector in this respect and the challenges it still faces are discussed in the comments on the publications and dissemination activities carried out as part of the project.

These publications, consisting of academic articles, infographics, and podcasts, have been used to create a toolkit to inform employers and posted workers and to raise public awareness of the employment conditions of posted workers in the road transport sector.

I. Presentation of the project

Our project, Mobility Impact on Transport Workers, addresses an issue of undoubted importance in a transnational context: the posting of road transport workers (lorry drivers).

Although EU legislation lays down a number of binding rules on working conditions for posted workers to ensure that their rights and working conditions are protected throughout the EU, there are still cases of social dumping and unfair competition between foreign and local service providers. This makes the implementation of this project even more necessary.

The entry into force of the Mobility Package has brought about changes that affect international truck drivers. The impact of the proposed changes on the transport sector is still unknown. What is known, however, is that the provisions will affect the current EU rules on the posting of workers.

One of the most significant changes, which has not yet been fully transposed into national law, is the impact on remuneration for work carried out on the territory of another Member State and paid based on posting. In addition to the high amount of the daily allowance, this remuneration is not subject to taxation and social security contributions, so that the pension of retired drivers working on a net salary basis will be low.

Another major change brought about by the amendments to the cabotage, and cross-trade regulations is the need for rules on the posting of workers. These rules, the introduction of which has been supported by the Western EU countries, which are mostly net receiving countries, may pose a risk to posting companies sending workers from Central and Eastern European countries due to increased labour costs; and may lead to an increase in the cost of transport services, resulting in a reduced competitiveness of transport companies from sending countries.

Partners involved in the project and their added value

Eight organisations from seven different countries participated in the implementation of our project: Italy, Poland, Croatia, Norway, Greece, Belgium, and Spain. This gave the activities a transnational dimension, which added value to the development of the project:

• from a geographical point of view, it allowed us to analyse and disseminate strategies and data across Europe, regardless of the different working relationships that exist in each of our countries;
• we have had the opportunity to share experiences and learn from what our partners have already done and to disseminate good practices that we can use across Europe;
• the heterogeneity of the partners and their knowledge of the specificities of the transport sector provided different perspectives for further analysis of the problems and the search for solutions.

Project objectives and results

The main objective of our project was to contribute to the implementation of the key provisions on the posting of workers, to analyse the implementation and application of the Posting Directives and to collect evidence on the impact of the new legislation on the transport sector and posting processes, with a focus on truck drivers.

In addition to the main objective, the planned activities helped to achieve other more specific objectives, including:

• we made posted workers in the road transport sector aware of their rights, with the aim of reducing their uncertainty by communicating directly with them and providing them with relevant and easily understandable information, also through their participation in the project;

• companies that post workers have been involved in the project’s activities, providing them with tools to help them better understand their posting processes;

• we strengthened transnational cooperation between employers and workers to find concrete solutions to the main problems related to the posting of lorry drivers;

• we shared the results of the project with other actors in the Mobility Package and developed improvements in terms of information and understanding of the existing legislation and its application;

• we have tried to raise the awareness of the public on the issues related to the posting of truck drivers through social media and dissemination by the project partners.

In conclusion, we believe that the MIPACT project has created a framework to ensure fair competition and respect for the rights of posted workers, so that both companies and workers can take full advantage of the internal market.

Activities carried out during the project

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives and thus achieve relevant results in the implementation of the project, a number of activities were carried out during the project, which are briefly described below:

• online kick-off meeting,on 21 November 2022, where the project activities were initiated, the scope of the project was explained and the activities to be carried out during the project were planned;
• online Expert Working Meeting I, held on 26 May 2023. During this meeting, the results of the country reports prepared by the experts were reviewed through individual presentations by each partner;
• online Expert Working Meeting II, held on 11 September 2023. It presented the final comparative report of the research phase, developed after the analysis of the national reports, and discussed the content of the twelve scientific articles produced during the project;
• online Expert Working Meeting III was held on 19 December 2023, presenting the Mobility Package document together with frequently asked questions (FAQs) on Directive 2020/1057 on the posting of drivers in the road transport sector.

The first phase of the event served to focus on the key content to be included in the infographics developed by the project, which will be referred to in the chapter on publication and dissemination of results.

• International workshop held in Malaga (Spain) on 22 and 23 February 2024.

The event included a round table discussion on the application of posting rules in the transport sector and their impact on workers. The discussion was moderated by expert Ángel Lozano with the participation of Hendrik Meerkamp, representing the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, CESI, and Juan Jesús García Fraile, representing the European Federation of Train Drivers’ Unions, ALE, and Nikoleta Tsamandora, representing the University of Thessaly, Greece.

The speakers gave a brief overview of the new transport legislation, the Mobility Package, addressed some of its aspects and highlighted the lack of clarity in European legislation, which makes it difficult for employers and workers to apply. They also discussed the use of smart tachographs and the problems they cause, the lack of investment in equipment and infrastructure, the phenomenon of unfair competition due to the liberalisation of the sector, with private companies replacing public ones. Attention was also drawn to the existence of numerous serious accidents in which workers and users are killed due to lack of knowledge of the rules. The speeches by the partners present were followed by a question-and-answer session.

In addition, each partner presented the dissemination activities of the project carried out so far. The virtual platform of the project was also presented, as well as the subsequent publication of infographics and videos.

Finally, the expert coordinator of the project, Ángel L., presented two messages on risks and preventive measures in road transport and on the results and next steps of the action of the European Labour Authority on road transport issues.

• Online Expert Working Session, held on 27 June, was dedicated to the recording of six national and one general podcast, the content of which related both to the European mobility package and to developments in the issue of posting of road transport workers in the light of the new legislation, as well as to developments and lessons learned during the research phase of the project.

The methodology used to record the podcasts was based on interviews conducted by the project’s expert coordinator with each of the participating partners, who discussed the relevant legislation and the specificities of each country, which will be discussed below.

• Online Project Summary Meeting held on 19 July 2024 to present the results of the project, analyse the dissemination of the various printed publications and the materials developed. A Letter of Intent requesting the continuation of the project was also agreed and signed.

II. European Union Mobility Package

In 2022, important legislation entered into force as part of the so-called EU Mobility Package. Specifically, we are referring to the legislation adopted on 15 July 2020, which aims to regulate road transport in the European Union countries and is contained in three key pieces of legislation: Regulation (EU) 2020/1054; Regulation (EU) 2020/1055 and Directive (EU) 2020/1057.

The Mobility Package aims to introduce fairer and more harmonised rules at social level, gradually coming into force over several years from 2020. The measures relate to drivers’ working time and rest periods, the posting of drivers between the EU and third countries, minimum wage requirements, access to the profession and to the transport market, restrictions on cabotage and border crossing registers.

These changes have forced transport companies to adapt their structure and operations, with a significant impact on the economy. In addition, the new rules have caused strong opposition and controversy from Eastern European countries, as they mean greater control of competition from international transport companies in these countries.

The first changes were introduced in August 2020 by Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 and mainly concern driving and rest times for drivers resident in the European Union. In particular, they will be required to record in the tachograph each time they cross a Member State border, manually at the beginning of the first stop as close as possible to the border of the new Member State they are entering if the tachograph does not record this automatically. This obligation was already required from 2020 for vehicles equipped with analogue tachographs but has now been extended to vehicles equipped with digital tachographs.

Finally, the above-mentioned regulation also introduces changes regarding the mileage records of each driver, which will apply from 31 December 2024.

In addition, Regulation (EU) 2020/1055, which will enter into force on 21 February 2022, introduces three transport restrictions: on the one hand, for cabotage operations (the provision of a transport service in a country by a haulier not established in that country), it introduces a so-called “waiting period” of four days, which makes it impossible to carry out consecutive cabotage operations in the same country and with the same vehicle during this period.

Thus, following an international transport operation in an EU country, a maximum of three cabotage operations can be carried out in a maximum of seven days with the goods fully unloaded, but now with the restriction that at the end of this seven-day period the lorry must leave the country and cannot re-enter it within four days.

Secondly, it introduces an obligation for vehicles to return every eight weeks to one of the operational centres in the Member State where the company is established. This obligation is in addition to the existing obligation for drivers to return every three to four weeks from the date of departure from their country of origin. These requirements are intended to prevent drivers from being permanently posted outside their country of origin.

The third restriction introduced by the Regulation concerns the international carriage of goods by road for hire or reward within the EU by vehicles whose maximum authorised weight does not exceed 3.5 tonnes. In such cases, from 21 May 2022, they will require a Community licence and will no longer be exempt from the obligation to obtain a transport authorisation and will be subject to the rules on access to the occupation of international road haulage operator. The aim is to ensure a minimum level of professionalism in the sector and thus to approximate the conditions of competition between all hauliers.

Finally, reference should be made to European Directive 1057/2020 on the posting of drivers and the new rules on cabotage, which replaces the previous Directive 2006/22/EC. This legislation establishes new rules requiring drivers who are subject to an employment relationship and who carry out international transport or cabotage operations to be paid a minimum wage in the country where the transport is carried out. The aim of this measure is to combat so-called “letter-box companies” (companies which are not established in the country where they are based, and which employ workers but operate in other EU Member States where they actually provide their services) and competition from companies with more favourable conditions in terms of remuneration.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the legislation contains two measures aimed at changing the situation in the sector by controlling the companies and drivers that have relocated, limiting their stay in third countries and obliging them to return to their country of origin, all by registering on a special online platform set up by the European Union.

The new regulation on posted drivers obliges all international transport companies with vehicles of more than 2.5 tonnes to register and use the said platform, regardless of their country of origin and whether it is a Member State or a country of the European Economic Area. To do this, each company must create a valid account and enter details of the transport authorisation, the vehicle and driver, the start and end dates of the journey and the details of the transport manager.

Journey declarations will be valid for a maximum of six months and can be amended, cancelled, and/or renewed. The platform will allow the declarations to be printed for delivery to the driver, who must carry a paper or digital copy, as well as the employment contract and pay slips confirming the employment relationship between the driver and the company.

However, a number of transport operations are excluded from this obligation because the nature of the service is considered to be closely linked to the Member State of establishment. In particular, transit transport (transport through a Member State without loading or unloading of goods) and bilateral transport (transport of goods from the Member State of establishment to another Member State or third country or from another Member State or third country to the Member State of establishment) are excluded.

In addition, before providing the service, hauliers must submit a declaration on the movement of drivers to an electronic system centralised at the European Commission, known as the Internal Market Information System (IMI), for the exchange of information on the movement of drivers on the road, so that the country in which the service is to be provided can check that the service is being properly carried out.

III. Conclusions of the studies carried out during the development of the project

During the first eleven months of the project, a research phase was conducted to:

• collect data on the current situation of posted lorry drivers, considering different perspectives and scenarios, and
• analyse the implementation of the Mobility Package and the changes brought about by the entry into force of Directive 2020/1057.

To this end:

• the target groups of the study were defined, i.e. posting companies, posted workers, trade unions and organisations dealing with posted workers;
• a questionnaire was developed in each language, addressed to the defined target groups, and completed online by the persons concerned;
• each participating country produced a research report based on the analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires carried out in that country.

The experts who wrote the country reports are:

• Francesco Marcelli, Federazione Autonoma dei Sindicato dei Transportes, FAST, Italy
• Łukasz Osiński, Chamber of Commerce of Central Europe, IGES, Poland
• Hrvoje Butkovic, Institut Za Razvoj I Medunarodne Odnose, IRMO, Croatia
• Ángel Lozano, Antonio Bustamante Foundation, FAB, Spain
• Klaudia Allajbej, Panepistimio Tesalia and Centre for Education and Innovation, InnovED, Greece
• Artur Kubik, Solidaritet Norge, Norway

[The country reports prepared by each expert and the final comparative report are available at: http://projects.sindacatofast.it/index.php/mipact-downloads/]

• Based on the content of the country reports, the expert coordinator of the project produced a comparative report presenting the lessons learned, which became the basis for academic articles, infographics, and podcasts to disseminate the project.

The comparative report begins with a brief description of the three aspects that made up the desk research phase: legislation and information on the posting of workers, a description of the right to employee participation in each partner country, and the employment conditions of transport workers. Similarities and differences between each of these areas were also identified and can be summarised as follows.

• Conclusions on the posting of workers

In the first part, which presents the conclusions of the project participants’ statements, it can be stated that both the Posting of Workers Directives and the Mobility Package have been transposed into the legal systems of the project partner countries. This has created a legal framework that regulates the scope, protection, and benefits for posted workers.

• Conclusions on workers’ rights to participation

The conclusions in this section are not as consistent as in the previous section, but allow us to conclude that:

• systems for employee participation are information and consultation, preferably through trade unions and employee representatives;

• the employer is obliged to inform trade unions on certain issues, at least those covered by Directive 2002/14;

• in Italy, Spain, and Norway there is a tripartite social dialogue between government, employers, and trade unions, identified with the social agreement and with a strong political character;

• only in Italy and Spain is collective bargaining recognised as a constitutional right;

• the instrument resulting from collective bargaining is the collective agreement regulating the terms and conditions of employment of workers (Italy, Spain, Greece, and Norway).

• Conclusions on working conditions in the transport sector

• Italy, Spain, Greece, and Norway regulate the working conditions of their employees through collective agreements; there are specific agreements for sub-sectors of the transport sector such as rail, maritime, freight, passenger transport, etc.

• Italy and Spain refer to the need to address training and health and safety conditions in relation to the creation of new job.

• Italy, Poland, Spain, Greece, and Norway highlight various aspects of workers’ compensation, with significant quantitative differences between them.

Finally, a comparative study of the national reports analysed the results of online surveys of posted workers in the transport sector and employers who post workers. This led to a number of conclusions which are presented below [the conclusions have been developed considering the conclusions drawn for each group analysed: workers and employers] and which we list separately by specific theme from those analysed as a whole.

• The issue of knowledge and application of European and national rules on posting of workers

• Employers’ awareness of European rules is higher than that of workers, although the latter also claim to be aware of them in percentages close to 60%. Both groups claim that these rules are applied in the transport sector in their country.

However, neither workers nor employers believe that these rules guarantee workers’ rights.

• In Croatia and Poland, as well as in Italy, it is only among workers that there is a high level of ignorance about the existence of specific legislation.

• Lack of information is the main problem related to the current posting rules. Other problems are related to interpretation and lack of clarity of the rules. However, some countries also mention misapplication of the rules by companies and lack of implementation.

• The issue of worker involvement in transport: information and consultation

• It can be concluded that employees receive the information provided by employers to their representatives (although the 20-point difference between employers (78%) and employees (58%) is surprising).

A large majority of employees (over 70%) consider the information they receive and the consultation system set up to be useful or appropriate.

• Employee participation and problem-solving systems are mostly implemented through trade unions or employee representatives. However, there is a percentage of around 40% who would do this directly with the employer.

• The issue of working conditions for posted workers

• Collective agreements are cited by the majority of respondents as the instrument through which workers’ wages are set in the transport sector. However, 22% of respondents indicated that it was negotiated directly between the employer and the employee and 16% said that it was set directly by the employer.

• The basic salary, the allowances laid down in the collective agreement or in the employment contract and the company’s seniority allowance are reported as the compulsory elements that make up the salary.

• Optional extras mentioned by the majority are allowances for transport, food and accommodation while travelling, with both groups and countries generally agreeing that the employer is responsible for paying allowances related to the employee’s travel for work purposes.

• Working conditions in the transport sector are considered acceptable by the majority of respondents, although the percentages vary between countries. Italy stands out as the country where most respondents consider them to be inadequate.

• The majority of workers, just over 70%, receive health checks at least once a year and training on health and safety at work at a frequency and quality considered adequate.

• Employees rank pay as a priority in terms of their needs, followed by greater recognition from the employer and consultation with the employer on work and career issues.

• Employer awareness of current European legislation on mobility

• Awareness of the legislation concerning the operations that road transport companies must carry out between different Member States is extremely low, barely exceeding 50% on average in the participating countries. However, in Italy (11%) and Poland (35%), this percentage appears to decrease by minimal percentages.

It should also be noted that both the Greek and the Croatian participants express doubts in their reports about the percentages obtained in the surveys. They point out that when asked to give two examples of such transactions, very few respondents can do so.

• There is a widespread lack of knowledge of the existence of an online tool for reporting employee journeys (only Spain with 73% and Norway with 52% show significant knowledge).

• The tachograph record, a copy of the journey declaration and a copy of the employment contract are the three documents most frequently mentioned by employers as those which the driver must carry with him when travelling.

IV. Publications and dissemination

During the project, a toolkit was developed to inform employers and posted workers and to raise awareness among the public about the situation of posted workers in the road transport sector in terms of working conditions. The above activities were carried out through the following three instruments: scientific articles, infographics, and podcasts, which also served to disseminate the project and the activities, lessons and good practices developed within the project.

• Publication of twelve scientific articles describing the new law on the Mobility Package and its impact on the objectives of the project, assessing the perceptions of posted workers, companies posting workers and the results of the research.

The articles are based on the conclusions drawn from the research phase and included in the comparative report, trying to maintain a logical order in their preparation and presentation in order to follow the line of argumentation between them.

The content of the articles is based on the following themes:

• EU Mobility Package innovations: driving times and rest periods;

• cabotage and waiting period: two new tasks introduced by Regulation 2020/1055 as part of the EU Mobility Package;

• 18 months after the entry into force of the Posting of Workers Directive;

• the Internal Market Information System (IMI) on the posting of drivers in road transport;

• how to use the platform for the declaration of the posting of workers?

• the concept of a posted worker under the new European driver legislation;

• the communication and documentation required for the posting declaration;

• a guide on how to fill in the driver posting declaration;

• European legislation requiring posted drivers to be paid in the country where they provide their services;

• Conclusions of the research carried out by the European MIPACT project;

• road transport workers consider their working conditions during posting to be acceptable;

• is it necessary to apply posting rules to transit? The article presents the concept of transit and illustrates it with a concrete example.

The articles are available in the languages of all participating partners (Italian, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Croatian and Norwegian) and in English at: http://projects.sindacatofast.it/index.php/mipact-articles/

• Publication of five infographics, to disseminate the project.

The selection of the content of the infographics was guided by two criteria: on the one hand, the main objective of the project, which identified the need to “contribute to the implementation of the key principles of the Mobility Package on the posting of workers”.

On the other hand, some conclusions were drawn during the research phase.

Accordingly, the five infographics developed focus on the following aspects:

• the posting of workers under Directive 2020/1057, which deals with the concept of posted workers from the point of view of transport operations carried out in a Member State other than that in which the employer is established;

• the European Mobility Package, which deals with the three reference acts: Directive 2020/1057 and Regulations 2020/1054 and 2020/1055;

• the administrative aspects of posting a driver, with an explanation of the actions to be taken through IMI before, during and after the posting;

• the rights of the posted driver during the posting, with particular reference to rest and driving time and the payment due;

• the European Sustainable Mobility Strategy and COP’2023, linking the European Green Deal to the conclusions of the last COP.

The infographics are available at the following address (in English and in the languages of the participating partners Italian, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Croatian and Norwegian) at:

http://projects.sindacatofast.it/index.php/infographics-hr/

• The publication of 7 podcasts, also aimed at disseminating the project, focusing in this case both on explaining the Mobility Package and its implementation and impact in each participating country, and on raising awareness among road transport professionals and the general public of the challenges faced by truck drivers when posting across the European Union.

In addition to the six podcasts related to the partner countries and intended for distribution in those countries, a seventh podcast was recorded in English. The podcast was designed to present the project as a whole, its objectives, the activities carried out, the main lessons learnt, the role of the ELA in the implementation and monitoring of the mobility package and a series of recommendations and good practices based on the challenges identified in the road transport sector for posted workers.

To facilitate the development of the podcasts and to ensure their homogeneity, the following aspects of the Mobility Package and the results of the research phase carried out in each country were requested.

The technique presented allowed all partners to answer the same questions posed by the interviewer, individually for each partner. In this way, the same information framework was obtained in all participating countries.

In this way, the questions put to each partner could answer questions of unquestionable relevance to bring the EU Mobility Package closer to each person, whether he or she is a worker, an employer, a social partner, a public body, or a citizen.

The following questions were asked:

Can you explain the main results of this research in your country?

What does the Mobility Package consist of? What should the Mobility Package guarantee?

Do you think that adequate working conditions and social protection for road transport workers and fair competition between transport companies, as promoted by the Mobility Package, are guaranteed in your country?

Do you think that the directives of the Mobility Package are being properly implemented?

What are the new rules on whether a road transport worker is posted or not?

What guarantees are to be provided by the employer to the posted worker when he/she is in the host country and what are the key issues to be addressed?

What new elements does the Mobility Package introduce regarding rest and driving times and the use of the tachograph at border crossings?

What documents does the driver need to carry with him when posted under the new rules?

What documents will the employer have to hand over and present at the end of the journey as proof of the posting?

What improvements and best practices should be implemented to ensure the implementation of the Mobility Package and thus guarantee both working conditions for drivers and fair competition for road transport companies?

• Newsletter: as a culmination of a number of elements that helped to disseminate the project, to present it to the public, both to posted workers and employers who post workers, and to the general public, various messages were developed that each partner had the opportunity to publish on their website and social networks; and in some cases to the media in their countries.

In conclusion, the implementation of the project Mobility Impact on Transport Workers, MIhPACT, has resulted in a series of conclusions and proposals for improvement and good practices to enable greater participation of road transport workers at a transnational level. Improvements to be implemented also at national level have not been forgotten, as we have tried to convey in these podcasts, as well as in the infographics and scientific articles mentioned above.

IV. Results achieved and agreement to continue the project

As already stated in this final article of the project, the results initially expected have been achieved during the course of the project and its implementation, so that the balance of the project is clearly positive.

The main objective of our project was to contribute to the implementation of the key principles of posting of workers by analysing the application of the Posting Directives and the impact of the new law in the transport sector, as well as the processes of posting of transport workers, focusing on truck drivers. However, while the project we also carried out other activities related to labour relations and the care of posted workers, which we have mentioned in the list of objectives achieved in the first part of this article.

On the other hand, based on the research phase carried out and the intensive debates that took place during the meetings held during the project, the participating partners unanimously identified several problems in the implementation of the Mobility Package by carrying out various good practice activities. These will undoubtedly improve the current situation in the road transport sector, both in terms of employers posting workers and posted workers and their employment and working conditions on specific and sensitive issues.

Therefore, despite the presentation of proposals for improvements and good practices, the project partners considered it necessary to further develop such practices and improvements in their implementation, inter alia and especially in aspects related to the widespread unfamiliarity with the European rules in this field, the difficulties in understanding and interpreting them due to the lack of clarity of the rules, the risk of unfair competition due to the liberalisation of the sector or the occurrence of serious accidents in which workers and users are killed, in many cases due to the lack of knowledge of the applicable rules.

As a result of the challenges identified, the need to continue the project in order to make further progress in finding solutions to the problems raised was expressed at the project’s final meeting. Within the list of challenges for road transport workers, the project partners highlighted a fundamental aspect that is hardly addressed in the provisions of the Mobility Package, i.e. the individual fundamental right of each worker as laid down in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 31.1), such as health protection.

As a result of these reflections and debates, the partners agreed to continue the project, proposing the following as key issues for future development:

• the establishment of a regulatory framework for the protection and prevention of the health and safety of workers, in view of the existing safety problems in the transport sector, in particular with regard to occupational diseases;
• the development of the actions of the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work for 2021-2027, in particular those related to the dual transformation (digital and environmental), accidents at work, stress and psychosocial risks, and the fight against violence, harassment or discrimination at work;
• analysing the occupational risks specific to the international road transport sector and implementing the necessary preventive and protective measures in relation to the risks identified;
• taking into account that an occupational disease is a slow and gradual deterioration of a worker’s health resulting from long-term exposure to unfavourable conditions in the workplace, assess the causes of occupational diseases by examining, evaluating and modifying the physical, chemical or biological working environment;
• working with the European Commission, OSHA, and other continental institutions to develop a regulation applicable in all Member States on occupational diseases in the transport sector and in cross-border road transport;
• monitoring and assessing how factors such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence or robotics may affect the provision of road transport services, both from the point of view of workers and citizens using these services;
• promoting awareness-raising and information activities to enable employers, workers and the general public to be better informed about the legislation of the European Mobility Package;
• promoting the use of information, consultation and collective bargaining or social dialogue mechanisms, both at national and transnational level, within the road transport sector in the Member States in order to improve working conditions in the sector, with particular attention to aspects such as employment fraud or social dumping;
• identifying strategies that will allow for greater homogeneity of normative regulation between Member States, as opposed to the excessive dispersion that currently exists;
• paying particular attention to situations of employment abuse, combating the existence of shell companies, subcontracting and the emergence of new forms of employment that may affect more vulnerable workers due to their educational background or digital exclusion;
• maintain the current team of experts participating in the project as an advisory group, which will allow for a transnational network and support the implementation of the strategies and good practices identified in the project for the cross-border road transport sector.hh