In Belgium, outrage is growing over the situation of foreign truck drivers who, during the holidays, leave their trucks en masse in so-called 'Christmas parking lots'.
According to the BTB-ABVV trade union, this practice is a glaring example of social dumping, in which drivers are underpaid while they actually work in Belgium. The union calls it “modern slavery” and demands urgent action from the government. The union has mapped forty of these parking lots, fifteen of which are in the province of Antwerp alone. Here, trucks with mainly Eastern European and Portuguese license plates are parked, while the drivers have traveled to their home country to celebrate Christmas.
Deputy Federal Secretary Tom Peeters explains that thousands of drivers are involved. “They drive for Romanian, Slovakian or Portuguese companies, but carry out assignments for Belgian hauliers all year round. This is done for low foreign wages, while they should actually be paid according to Belgian rules.”
According to Peeters, these truckers receive an average monthly salary of 300 to 400 euros net from their home country. In addition, they receive a daily allowance of 50 euros, bringing their total income to around 2.000 euros per month. Although this is higher than the average Romanian salary, essential employment conditions such as social security, health insurance and pension contributions are missing. “These daily allowances are comparable to meal vouchers and offer no security whatsoever,” says Peeters.
massively bypassed
The union emphasizes that many drivers spend almost the entire year abroad. “Some are away from home for up to fifty weeks a year,” says Peeters. This often involves violations of European regulations, such as the ban on spending weekends in the truck cabin. “Yet many drivers are forced to sleep in their vehicles because employers offer no other options.”
Another problem is the mandatory registration of travel time in the digital tachograph. This regulation obliges drivers to enter their return journey from their home country, but according to the union this rarely happens. “This not only violates the law, but also further erodes the rights of drivers.”
Frank Moreels, chairman of BTB-ABVV: “Drivers are pressured to return to work after their vacation without any registration of travel time. As a result, they are not only in violation, they are also being exploited by their employer. Employers are evading their responsibilities and continue to organize social dumping. This must stop and it can be done if there are more and stricter checks!”
The Gazet van Antwerpen places the story in a local context, specifically pointing to the fifteen Christmas parking lots in the province of Antwerp. The newspaper refers to parking lots in cities such as Geel, Mol and Arendonk, where trucks with foreign number plates have been parked for weeks. In addition, the newspaper also highlights the international dimension of the problem, with the practices in Belgium appearing to be part of a European transport problem
“The Christmas parking lots seem to be a short-lived phenomenon that only occurs during the Christmas period, but they explicitly expose the core of the problem. Cheap drivers who are exploited in Western Europe by fraudulent transport companies that continue to respond to the demand of clients to operate increasingly cheaply.”
BTB-ABVV calls on the Social Intelligence and Investigation Service (SIOD) to carry out stricter checks. "We already asked last year for targeted inspections when drivers return after the holidays. But nothing was done about that," says Peeters. Despite repeated calls to the competent authorities, there was no response from SIOD, possibly because of the Christmas period.
The union has now extended file compiled with photos and coordinates of the Christmas parking lots. The list includes both public parking lots and private areas of transport companies, such as Van Steenbergen in Arendonk, Gheys in Mol and BE Trans in Geel. An employee of one of the companies mentioned responded with a shrug. “We know the stories of the union. I am not going to respond to that again.”
European responsibility
The European Court of Justice abolished the mandatory return of the vehicle to the country of registration a few weeks ago. However, the mandatory return of the driver remained in place. BTB-ABVV not only points to the transport companies, but also to the large companies that are clients. "These companies force the transport sector to rock-bottom prices. Anyone who does not comply will lose the contract," says Peeters. The trade union advocates holding these clients liable and is pushing for stricter European regulations.
According to Peeters, the problem is not limited to Belgium. Drivers are also structurally underpaid in other countries. “It has now even gone so far that Romania cannot supply enough drivers and that truckers are being recruited from the Philippines, Uzbekistan and China.”
According to BTB-ABVV, the situation in the Christmas parking lots is a symptom of a deeper problem in the transport sector. Without concrete measures, both nationally and European, the union fears that social dumping will continue. "We are talking about the exploitation of thousands of people. This is not a small problem, but a disgrace for the entire sector."
