Truckers’ fight for minimum wage heats up
For years, EU regulations guarantee the rights of posted workers to the working conditions applicable in the country of the posting, if such conditions are more advantageous. This rule also covers remuneration. Until recently however, the protection of workers, and, consequently, of West European companies against competitors from Eastern Europe where labour is cheaper, was rather theoretical. Now, Germany and France have picked up the proverbial gauntlet and adopted rules setting high minimum wages.
The situation has escalated primarily in transportation, where the posting of workers abroad is, logically, most frequent and at the same time easy to check. Compliance with the regulations is being checked by foreign authorities, and the posted workers themselves also speak up. A pioneer in the fight for the topping-up of wages to the minimum German level is a Southern Bohemian truck driver, who has now won a dispute over an additional wage settlement of more than a quarter of a million Czech crowns, using the assistance of a German organisation founded to support posted workers from countries of Central and Eastern Europe. His success has encouraged more of his colleagues, who intend to follow in his steps.
Czech carriers are thus facing an uncertain future, even though in this case the German customer had to top-up the wages instead of the Czech employer, as EU regulations allow the member states to stipulate in their national legislation the (co)liability of service recipients. In the future, however, Czech employers will not escape their duties so easily: under the Posting of Workers Directive, service recipients may free themselves of their liability if they prove that they had taken all reasonable care to meet the duty. To prove this duty of care, Czech carriers are being asked to provide a confirmation of compliance with their duties in the field of remuneration. This may also make the organisation of assignments more difficult, as there will be more demand among workers for trips to countries with a higher minimum wage. Differences in wages not depending on work results or difficulty are likely to become a breeding ground for disputes.
Yet another issue is the lack of coordination between national regulations: while the Czech Labour Code compensates workers for the higher costs of working abroad through meal allowances of EUR 45 per diem for Germany, this is not viewed by German authorities as a part of wages; per diem thus does not reduce the amount of the obligatory topping-up of wages.
The European Union is now trying to make the regulation even stricter, proposing that, apart from the foreign rates of minimum wages and extra-pay for overtime, posted workers should also be entitled to all bonuses, contributions and other benefits under applicable foreign regulations or collective bargaining agreements. Wherever the time of the posting exceeds 18 months, the workers would be subject to foreign labour law to its full extent. Meeting these duties would be demanding financially as well as in terms of administration.
Because of conflicting national interests, the wording of the amendment has been under discussion in Brussels for nearly two years. According to the latest agreement between the countries, the amendment should not apply to road transport – the posting of drivers should be regulated on a separate basis. However, negotiations are far from finished.