Early July, there was this 3 day gathering in Paris regarding the ‘ Physical Internet ‘. To summarise what it is about: send goods the way data are sent. Challenging approach, but at least 300 people were there to learn. CORE was presented and we had the honour of having Mr Physical Internet in the audience. His conclusion: CORE builds on what already exists and will improve and optimise. Physical Internet is kind of starting from scratch. Interesting suggestion from the PI-people: why not apply the PI-approach to one of the demonstrators. Definitely food for thought, I would say.
Another hot topic: the social agenda in transport. Early June, the DG’s Move and Employment organised this event with the goal to brainstorm and to share best practices about the social aspects of all transport modes with respect to employment. About 400 delegates accepted the invitation.
The whole day was a combination of workshops and plenary sessions. I participated in a session about ‘Women in Transport ‘, followed by ‘Attractiveness of the sector ‘and ‘Skills ‘. More attention went however to the plenary sessions. During these sessions following topics were touched and most probably most of them will be treated in depth in the coming months. Let me list them in no particular order: level playing field, false self-employment, postal box companies, and harmonisation of enforcement laws, safeguard European free market, avoid fragmented solutions, role of the unions, etc. All to avoid social dumping and to stop ‘the race to the bottom’.
Is this ‘social agenda‘ far away from CORE ? Not at all! CORE cannot function in a world where ‘transport‘ is badly organised from a social point of view and keeps the overall image of being an unattractive employer.