In connection with the upcoming presentation of the study on working conditions and the health of transport workers, the Federation of Transport Trade Unions places emphasis on the organization of working time, genuine rest, and fatigue prevention among professional drivers.

The topic takes on even greater significance against the background of the persistent shortage of professional drivers, the increasing average age of workers in the sector, and the need to make transport professions more attractive to new personnel.

The European debate on these issues led to changes in the rules for occasional road passenger transport services in 2024. Today, attention must be focused on their practical implementation and their impact on drivers' health and passenger safety.

This issue is also of direct importance for Bulgaria, both from the perspective of the implementation and enforcement of European legislation and in defining national policies, collective bargaining, and undertaking measures to improve working conditions.

The European Framework

The main European act concerning driving times, breaks, and rest periods is Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. Its rules pursue three interrelated objectives: improving working conditions for drivers, enhancing road safety, and ensuring a level playing field for transport undertakings.

Directive 2002/15/EC complements this framework regarding the organization of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1258 was adopted on 24 April 2024 and entered into force on 22 May 2024. It amended the rules on breaks and daily and weekly rest periods in occasional passenger transport services. These are already applicable provisions, not a proposal for future changes.

In occasional passenger transport services, the mandatory break of at least 45 minutes after no more than four and a half hours of driving may be split into two breaks, each of at least 15 minutes, with a total duration of at least 45 minutes. The split into three breaks of 15 minutes discussed in 2023 was not adopted.

For a single occasional passenger service with a duration of at least six consecutive 24-hour periods, the daily rest period may exceptionally be taken within 25 instead of 24 hours after the end of the previous daily or weekly rest period, provided that driving on the relevant day does not exceed seven hours. For a transport service lasting at least eight such periods, this is permissible twice. The derogation does not reduce the duration of the daily rest period and does not change the deadline for starting the weekly rest period.

The option to postpone the weekly rest period by up to 12 consecutive 24-hour periods has also been extended to domestic occasional passenger services. It applies only subject to the conditions of Article 8, paragraph 6a of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, including the requirements for previous and subsequent weekly rest periods and compensation for a reduced weekly rest period. This is not a permission to work without daily rests and breaks.

These special possibilities apply to occasional passenger transport services. They do not apply automatically to regular bus services, urban transport, or freight transport. The applicable regime must be established for each activity.

The recitals of the regulation enshrine the principle that more flexible organization of rests should not increase fatigue, worsen working conditions, or jeopardize safety. The limits on maximum driving time and applicable maximum working time are maintained. Whether flexibility actually improves working conditions must be evaluated through data on its implementation.

Flexibility Must Not Turn into a Greater Workload

The opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission's responses to proposal COM(2023) 256 reflect the debate in 2023, prior to the adoption of the regulation. They are important for understanding the arguments and concerns of the participants, but they do not replace the applicable legal provisions.

The EESC expressed concerns that increased flexibility could lead to a deterioration of drivers' working conditions and further reduce the attractiveness of the profession. Particular attention is drawn to the link between driver fatigue and traffic safety.

In its responses to the proposal at that time, the European Commission defended the thesis that a more flexible distribution of breaks could reduce stress and fatigue. This was a position in the legislative debate that should not be presented as a proven result of the implementation of the adopted rules.

The adopted regulation allows certain derogations in occasional passenger transport. For FTTU, their use requires careful planning, workload assessment, and monitoring of compliance with all conditions. Formal compliance with hourly limits alone is not sufficient for fatigue prevention.

For FTTU, this is a core principle: flexibility in work organization is acceptable only when it is not achieved at the expense of health, genuine recovery time, and the safety of drivers and passengers.

Formal and Genuine Rest

The question of what genuinely constitutes rest for a professional driver deserves special attention.

In occasional bus services, the driver often performs a series of additional activities: looking for parking spaces, loading and unloading luggage, supervising certain activities, interacting with passengers, and other tasks.

The EESC draws attention to practices where some of these activities may be carried out during time that is formally recorded as rest. The result is a restriction of the driver's actual recovery time and the emergence of additional risk.

For FTTU, rest must be genuine.

Loading and unloading luggage, attending to passengers, and other work duties must be recorded according to their actual nature. They cannot be included in time recorded as a break for recovery or rest. Waiting time and time spent on call must also be distinguished from rest in accordance with the applicable definitions.

Fatigue and Occupational Health

The European debate clearly shows that fatigue cannot be viewed solely through the prism of driving time.

The total duration of the working day, shift patterns, night work, the opportunity for genuine recovery, work intensity, additional duties, resting conditions, and the accumulation of fatigue over a longer period are all of importance.

Already in its 2023 opinion, the EESC recommended studies on the impact of driving, working, and resting times on safety. The adopted regulation also provides for monitoring the use of the derogations and assessing their impact on fatigue, stress, and road safety.

This approach is directly linked to FTTU's study on working conditions and the health of workers in the transport sector.

The Federation's survey covers 2,141 valid questionnaires from land, air, and water transport and examines both physical risks in the workplace and organizational and psychosocial factors, including work intensity, shift work, staffing shortages, working time organization, and opportunities for recovery.

The data that FTTU is about to present can serve as a basis for proposals for prevention and better organization of work. The survey covers various transport activities and does not constitute a standalone evaluation of the effect of Regulation (EU) 2024/1258 on drivers in occasional bus services.

Driver Shortages Cannot Be Offset by a Higher Workload

The EESC identifies personnel shortages as one of the main problems in the transport sector and questions an approach where it is compensated for by increasing flexibility and the workload on drivers who are already working.

In the 2023 opinion, the EESC also draws attention to the aging of drivers. This supports the need to make the profession more attractive by improving working conditions, but up-to-date demographic indicators should be established using current data.

According to FTTU, staff shortages cannot be sustainably resolved through more intensive use of existing personnel.

A comprehensive approach is required, which includes decent pay, predictable working hours, genuine recovery periods, improvement of working conditions, professional training and qualification, and measures to attract and retain staff.

Enforcement Is Part of Worker Protection

The existence of rules does not in itself guarantee their observance.

In the 2023 debate, the EESC and the European Commission raised the issue of effective enforcement and cooperation between national authorities. FTTU believes that joint inspections, information exchange, and appropriate digital tools should assist in determining the actual workload of drivers.

This is of particular significance for Bulgaria as well.

Enforcement should be aimed not merely at the formal presence of tachograph records, but at genuine compliance with the rules on working time, driving, and rest, and at preventing practices whereby work time is effectively recorded as recovery time.

Adequate Resting Conditions Are Needed

The real opportunity for recovery also depends on infrastructure.

The EESC and the European Commission raise the issue of safe and secure parking areas, sanitary facilities, and appropriate resting conditions. The European regulatory framework recognizes the importance of good resting conditions in reducing the risk of fatigue-related accidents.

Consequently, working time policy for drivers cannot be separated from transport infrastructure policy.

The Role of Social Dialogue and Collective Bargaining

For FTTU, the conclusion regarding the role of representative worker and employer organizations is particularly important.

The EESC stresses that issues related to working conditions should be addressed to a greater extent by sectoral social partners who know the real conditions in the sector.

Through collective bargaining, measures can be provided for predictable schedules, better resting conditions, and fatigue prevention while respecting mandatory regulatory limits. Possible derogations from individual rules of Directive 2002/15/EC are limited by the conditions of the directive itself. Collective bargaining agreements do not grant a general right to alter the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 regarding driving times, breaks, and rests.

This provides grounds for FTTU to raise the topic of working time and fatigue not only as a regulatory issue, but also as a subject of sectoral social dialogue and collective bargaining.

Proposals of the Federation of Transport Trade Unions

Based on the European debate, the applicable regulatory framework, and the working conditions study, FTTU proposes the following measures:

1. Conduct a national review of the practical application of the rules on working time, driving times, breaks, and rest periods for professional drivers.

2. Analyze the actual workload of drivers, including the time spent carrying out additional tasks outside the direct driving of the vehicle.

3. Ensure that periods recorded as rest constitute genuine time for recovery and do not include the performance of work duties.

4. Strengthen enforcement regarding compliance with social legislation in road transport, including through better cooperation among competent institutions and the use of digital control tools.

5. Develop measures for managing and preventing the risk of fatigue as part of occupational health and safety and road safety policies.

6. Analyze the impact of shift and night work, the length of the working day, and insufficient recovery periods on the health of professional drivers.

7. Undertake targeted investments in safe parking and resting areas with appropriate sanitary and living conditions.

8. Address the shortage of professional drivers through measures to improve pay, working conditions, training, qualifications, and the attractiveness of the profession, rather than by increasing the workload of existing staff.

9. Integrate issues of working time organization, shift patterns, rest periods, and fatigue prevention more actively into collective bargaining.

10. Establish a permanent format for sectoral social dialogue on road transport issues with the participation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, competent enforcement bodies, representative worker and employee organizations, and employer organizations.

11. Involve representative social partners at the earliest possible stage when preparing regulatory amendments or measures affecting the working time and rest of professional drivers.

12. Discuss the results of FTTU's study on working conditions and the health of transport workers with the competent state institutions and social partners, and use them as a basis for developing concrete preventive measures.

For the Federation of Transport Trade Unions, the issue of working time and rest for professional drivers does not come down solely to compliance with statutory hours.

At the center must be the person who operates the vehicle.

Rest must provide genuine recovery. Working time must be organized so that it does not lead to systematic fatigue accumulation. Enforcement must guarantee genuine, rather than formal, compliance with the rules. Staff shortages must not be compensated for by increasing the workload of people already working in the system.

Good working conditions for drivers support traffic safety and the quality of the transport service.

Therefore, FTTU will continue to insist that decisions related to the organization of professional drivers' work be based on real data, risk assessment, and full-fledged social dialogue with representative workers' organizations.

Sources and Regulatory Basis:

Minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods in the occasional passenger transport sector - COM(2023) 256 final; EESC 2023/2929 – TEN/816; 581st Plenary Session – September 2023;

Regulation (EU) 2024/1258 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024;

Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as amended;

Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities.