Brussels, 08/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 1 December, the European Parliament employment and social affairs committee held a public hearing, chaired by Pervenche Berès (PSE, France) and with representatives of the social partners in attendance, on the road hauliers working time directive. The hearing showed one thing: there was still much to be discussed on including self-employed drivers in the directive, particularly with regard to road safety and fair competition.
By way of introduction, rapporteur Edit Bauer (EPP, Slovakia) asked stakeholders how “false self-employed” drivers, i.e. those obliged by their employers to be “self-employed” could be identified, and what were the positive and negative aspects of the current legislation.
On behalf of employers Marco Digioia of the Union Européenne des Transporteurs routiers (UETR) said that self-employed drivers must be excluded from the directive. “Road safety is not an argument, it's a permanent problem for transport companies,” he said, pointing out that, in the EU, less than 3% of accidents involve light utility vehicles. He went on to say that account had to be taken of self-employed drivers' financial risks and bankruptcies, “and besides,” he said, “it's impossible to check their working time”. Henk Kramer of Transport en Logistiek Nederland said that “accounting for working time will create big administrative burdens”.
For the unions, Roberto Parillo of the European Transport Workers' Federation stated that “the Commission proposal does not guarantee more safety, but it does distort fair competition and will spur employers to convert their employees into false self-employees”. He called for a revised sector-specific directive on working time and new rules on false self-employment to be brought forward. Andrea Kocis of the Ver.di union said that there had been greater distortion of competition on the roads. “This legislation must be revised,” she said, adding that with the current proposal, “there is no limit on working time for 3.5 tonners - drivers can work up to 86 hours per week”. She went on: “To achieve competitive conditions, we must improve working conditions for all and take account of driving time and working time”.
Parliamentary committee member Sergio Cofferati (S&D, Italy) said: “Safety is the modern citizen's right and even a priority. It is essential to extend working time standards to the self-employed. The crisis that these drivers face must be tackled with aid, but not to the detriment of security”. Emilie Turunen (Greens/EFA, Denmark) said she could not see what obstacles there were to checking. “Who can prove that self-employed drivers are more dangerous than employees?” asked Marian Harkin (ALDE, Ireland). Thomas Händel (GUE/NGL, Germany) claimed that the self-employed and false self-employed led to wage dumping.
In a press release, the European Parliament says inter alia that Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of working time of road transport drivers, which has applied since March 2005 to employees, and, on the basis of a Commission report, was to have applied to self-employed drivers from 23 March 2009. In October 2008, the Commission proposed that self-employed drivers should be excluded from the scope of the directive and suggested a definition of self-employed in order to avoid the problem of “false self-employed” drivers, i.e. those who have no employment contract but are in practice prevented by their sole employer from working for other customers.
The EP also sets out the next steps: (1) presentation of the draft report: 26-27 January 2010, (2) committee vote: 16 March 2010, (3) plenary vote: April 2010. The procedure to be followed is co-decision - first reading. (G.B./transl.rt)