The ITF is working with its unions in Europe to expose the hidden shame of Europe’s road transport industry. Drivers are brought from Eastern Europe to Western Europe to drive, receive an hourly wage of up to €1.70, must sleep in the truck cab for up to eight months at a time, and do their washing and cooking in parking lots. They have limited access to toilets, and are given false papers to evade the authorities. All the while transporting goods for some of the world’s most successful and profitable multinational companies.
The harsh reality of the European road transport sector
Mass exploitation and inhumane working conditions are widespread in the European road transport sector. Companies keen to make a profit at any cost are benefiting from the high demand for ground transportation. They charge a fair price from large multinational companies to run their supply chains, but the money paid for the service is not distributed fairly to the drivers doing the work.
Instead, transport operators use loopholes to underpay their workers, hiring drivers from Eastern Europe under Eastern European contracts and using them to drive exclusively in Western Europe. This business model means they are able to pay low wages and social security contributions, while benefiting from the right of EU members to work across Europe.
Over the past three years, the ITF has worked in partnership with affiliated European companies to investigate supply chains and companies using these exploitative business models. Through field research and speaking with drivers, we found a consistent pattern of exploitation across the industry.
Wages
Most drivers come from Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine and earn gross wages between €310 and €375 per month. This equates to an hourly wage of between €1.76 and €2.13 (assuming that the working day lasts eight hours and that there are on average 22 working days per month). To hide the fact that drivers are paid less than the minimum wage, drivers also receive a net sum of €58 as daily allowance. This daily allowance is paid as a lump sum and is placed outside the basic wage – as a result no social security is paid. For example, pension contributions are only based on a basic salary of €300 (approx.), which makes it very difficult for drivers to retire.
In total, with the daily allowance, the money many drivers receive is no more than €1,740 per month. A driver based in Western Europe can expect a salary of over €2,000 per month plus a per diem, plus the benefits of local work (such as the “luxury” of being able to go home on weekends). Eastern European drivers spend long periods on the road without seeing their families, and live in poor conditions.
the conditions
During one weekend on the road in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, ITF investigators heard from many different drivers struggling to make a living. One driver who transports goods for large multinational companies said he had three young children at home and had been driving for six months straight between Norway and Portugal without taking time off to visit his family. When asked if he sometimes spends the night in hotels, he told us no, he just sleeps in the truck.
Outside a large logistics warehouse in Germany, we watched drivers washing and cooking in the snow. We asked the drivers why they were not using the facilities at the depot. They told us that the company does not allow them access. One driver explained that the only place to go to the toilet was a small shop, a 10-minute walk away, but that shop closed at 20:00. The driver had been parked at this spot all weekend waiting to unload.
In a large parking lot near the Dutch-German border, in the shadow of the large modern million-dollar DSV, XPO, UPS and TNT warehouses, drivers from all over Eastern Europe spend their weekly rest in their cars. Trucking, cooking and laundry outside. The small service station (as with most service stations in Europe) charges €0.70 to use its toilets, a cost that drivers cannot afford, at a rate of €1.70 per hour. Drivers end up going to the toilet near the back of their trucks or in nearby bushes.
Aren’t there laws prohibiting this?
Yes, the European Union (EU) has issued several directives stating that this practice is illegal, but although laws exist, there is little or no enforcement.
Navigation rules It says companies are not allowed to make more than three local transfers in another member state within a seven-day period. However, with a lack of proper vigilance on the part of the authorities, the financial benefit of exploiting the rules far outweighs the risk of being caught. Furthermore, the penalties if caught are minor compared to the profits earned. Violation of coastal navigation rules has become a business model for transport operators.
Rome I Regulations He says workers are entitled to the wage of the country in which they normally work. For ground transportation workers, determining a typical work location can be difficult and can be easily covered by scheduling tricks.
Disseminate workers’ directives It aims to enhance the free movement of services, fair competition, and guarantee workers’ rights. In theory, this should mean that a worker who is sent to a country on a temporary basis can claim the minimum wage in the country to which he or she is sent. This causes problems in countries that do not have a legal minimum wage such as Sweden, and the “temporary” nature of the posting is also difficult to determine. The European Court of Justice is considering whether the Posting of Workers Directive applies to international road transport.
Driving regulations and rest periods It states that drivers must take a regular weekly rest period at least once in any two consecutive weeks. A previous ruling explicitly stated that a driver is not allowed to take this 45-hour rest in his car. Some drivers are aware of this rule, but Member States do not prioritize its implementation. Companies benefit from breaking this rule because it means drivers stay on the road longer. By isolating drivers in their trucks, breaking this rule was one of the most profitable aspects of their employer’s business model.
Driving regulations and rest periods It also places limits on how long drivers can drive during any given day, week, or two. The data is captured on the tacho card installed in the truck. To combat this, employers encourage drivers to remove their tacho cards to hide how long they have been driving, putting the driver’s safety and the safety of other road users at risk. However, the chance of being caught is slim, and even when set the fine is minuscule compared to the money obtained through this widespread violation.
Law enforcement
European regulations do not constitute effective protection in the absence of proper implementation by Member States, which show little desire to increase the resources necessary to monitor the rules properly.
Even in countries like France, where stricter checks are in place, these rogue transport operators simply issue fake documents to fool the authorities. French law requires that if you work in France, you are paid the French minimum wage, but drivers are issued false papers to show the French authorities that they are being paid French wages – when they are not. Although this is clearly illegal, drivers do what they are told for fear of losing their jobs.
Knowing their rights is required if any driver tries to challenge their employer, as it is doubtful that drivers from Eastern Europe are fully aware of the legislation that, in theory, should protect them. Even if they were, without proper legal advice or funding, a driver is unlikely to take it upon themselves to challenge the injustice, as most workers are too dependent on keeping their jobs to risk their employer alone.
And it gets worse – human trafficking
Dissatisfied with the exploitation of low wages for workers in Eastern Europe, road transport companies are now advertising for drivers from the Philippines. Job ads say drivers will receive €2,000 a month, a trip to Europe, and access to an apartment.
The workers arrive to find there is no apartment, their wages are €300 a month, and the cost of the trip is deducted from their pay cheque. They are forced to live in the cab of their truck, forced to work long hours without proper rest, and are threatened by their employer when they try to leave.
Groups of Filipino drivers have been rescued from these conditions in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, but more are still arriving, and agencies continue to advertise these jobs. Prosecuting these cases is difficult because of the definition of “trafficking” in European law. Cases are difficult to win in court because dealing with labor exploitation is very different from dealing with sex or child trafficking, and it is much more difficult to prove.
One Filipino The driver, who was brought to Europe by this deception, told ITF investigators that he preferred conditions when he was driving in Saudi Arabia because there were better conditions for truck drivers there.
Another driver was injured in a road accident (the vehicles these drivers get are often old, defective and in need of repair). Without proper health insurance (which his employer did not provide), he was afraid to go to the hospital to seek help because he did not have the money to pay the hospital fees.
What can he do?
Companies at the top of the supply chain are either unaware of these conditions or ignore them. They have the power and influence to change the practices of transport operators competing for their business.
They could reform the entire industry simply by changing their tendering processes, conducting thorough pre-screening of the carriers they hire, conducting audits and monitoring of companies to ensure they meet standards and adopting remedial practices when companies are found to be in violation of standards. Of those standards. This, combined with organizing drivers and building union power on the ground, will create bottom-up and top-down pressure on middlemen who exploit the system.
Unions in Europe can play a vital role in conducting the field research necessary to investigate these exploitative practices. We need dedicated resources in unions across Europe to go into the field, visit parking spaces, talk to drivers and map supply chains.
By gathering evidence, economic employers can confront reality and push for changes that will reform the industry.
The more unions devote resources to carrying out this work, the more coordinated and influential the work becomes.
The ITF offers training to unions interested in devoting resources to this field work. For further information, please contact: usher_lauren@itf.org.uk
