Yrkestrafikkforbundet has conducted a survey of foreign truck drivers in Svinesund for the fourth time. The report is now ready. Almost every third truck driver crossing the border to Norway comes from Ukraine and Belarus.
That's a doubling in two years. 19 out of 20 of these drivers do not receive statutory Norwegian minimum wage when performing tasks in Norway.
Leader at Yrkestrafikkforbundet Jim Klungnes is concerned about the development
- Poland and Lithuania are the largest in cross-border truck transport in Europe. We can see that Polish and Lithuanian transport companies are at the fore in the race of social dumping. They turned their compatriots into Ukrainian and Belarusian drivers. Drivers of these companies very rarely receive the minimum wage when they carry out orders in Norway. Only 10 percent. in Polish cars and 6 percent. in Lithuanian cars it receives it, explains Klungnes. 15 percent Belarusian drivers earn less than 1000 euros a month, the same is equivalent to 8 percent. Ukrainian drivers.
– Transport companies can do this completely unhindered, there is virtually no control over wages and working conditions, or how drivers stay in Norway for a long time – says Klungnes.
Penalty as for the price of the bus ticket
The average monthly salary of cross-border drivers has increased by EUR 2019 since 57. Still, almost every fifth foreign driver earns less than EUR 1500 a month, and half of it earns less than EUR 2100 gross.
- Control of wages and working conditions must be real. Today, legislation is just rules on paper that are not enforced and that no transport company is afraid to break. The penalty is minimal. We would compare it to the bus penalty when you get caught, you only have to pay for the ticket you should buy first. With today's system it pays to break the law, says Klungnes.
– We are happy with the signals from the government that thorough cleaning is now starting professional life in the transport industry. We have very high expectations for the upcoming activities and will bring our competent input, contribution and impatience to it. Seeing today's situation on Norwegian roads, we cannot just sit and watch, we need to sort it out, Klungnes sums up.
Photo: Per Christian Lind
Source: Yrkestrafikkforbundet
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