Polish road freighters protest German law changes that could hurt their business





Polish transport companies Monday staged nationwide protests against being eliminated from the European market through new German legislation under which foreign truck drivers must be paid the German minimum wage for any hours they spend driving across Germany.Hundreds of trucks blocked roads and motorways in different parts of the country for the whole day.A national German minimum of EUR 8.50 an hour came into force on Jan1. That is higher than many earn in a Polish trucking industry which has taken advantage of low costs to take a big share of the trans-European road freight business.According to the Association of International Road Freighters in Poland the German regulations violate EU free market laws as they hinder the free flow of goods and services.The new laws are currently under inspection by the European Commission.Polish firms may become uncompetitive against Western European firms as they face additional internally-imposed costs related to, for instance, lump sum payments for hotels for drivers, head of logistics lobby TiLP Maciej Wronski said.Anna Wrona, spokesperson for the Association of International Road Freighters in Poland told PAP Polish news agency that what is happening now with the minimum wage Polish freighters have to pay their drivers on German territory may quite soon ruin these freighters.“ The German side does not deny that the move is aimed against what they call dumping. We see it as neo-protectionism that is unacceptable in the EU", Wrona said.On March 25 freighters from Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland plan a picket in the matter in front of the European Parliament seat in Brussels, Belgium.