IThe situation at the Gräfenhausen service area on the A5 Frankfurt-Darmstadt, which has been deadlocked for 50 days, is now moving. There have been protests and strikes there for weeks by around 60 drivers from the Polish Mazur group of companies, who complain that they have not been paid for at least 50 days. Now it is reported that the first of the drivers received transfers from the Polish transport company. The negotiator Edwin Atema from the Dutch trade union confederation FNV, who was commissioned by the drivers to act as negotiator, tells the FAZ that the discussions are not yet over. You will continue this Monday with the treatment of individual cases.
What will happen if all protesting drivers receive the required payment will only be discussed afterwards, Atema says. At the moment, it doesn’t seem likely that the drivers – mostly Georgians and eight Uzbeks – will continue to work for the Mazur group’s transport companies, which they have been protesting against for weeks. It is possible that the drivers will hand in their truck keys at the end and Mazur will bring new drivers from Poland in minibuses. The protesting drivers would then have to drive home first, or hire with other trucking companies.
Dirk Engelhardt, spokesman for the board of directors of the Federal Association for Road Haulage and Logistics (BGL), calls for an exception for the 60 drivers, which would enable them to be employed by German forwarding companies at the usual tariff conditions. It would obviously be very convenient for the German transport companies, which have to adhere to the German rules on tariffs and working conditions, if an example were made at this point.
Trouble finding drivers
German transport companies are in a bind, and not only because of rules such as the minimum wage. Even with the shrinking market share of German companies on the domestic market, there are still problems finding enough drivers. The German salaries for drivers are therefore far above the minimum wage, around 3,000 euros gross, reports Engelhardt, and further strong increases cannot be ruled out.
Therefore, the German transport companies feel particularly affected when, at the same time as wages in Germany are rising, foreign providers not only undermine the wage costs, but also unfair competition arises through disregard of the rules. With the liberalization of the European transport market, an attempt was made to create competition in cross-border goods traffic on the European transport market. For trucks that come across the border from Poland, Polish rules apply, not German rules. Trucks from abroad are also allowed to carry out up to three transport journeys within Germany within one week as part of the so-called “cabotage” after entering Germany, for which the German minimum wage then applies.
Difficult controls
Allegedly, the rules are often circumvented, even when driving for DHL, German car companies or furniture store chains. For example, because the trucks stay in Germany and drivers from abroad, such as Poland, are transported to Germany by minibus. According to experts, the trucks are then on the road for weeks in Germany or in cross-border traffic in Western Europe. The movements of an individual truck and the driver can currently only be controlled with great effort. A new generation of tachographs that not only record the speed driven and the rest times, but also the border crossings could provide a remedy in the future.