Brussels, 29/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Road haulage professionals are demanding an immediate moratorium on the application of the German minimum wage in the road transport sector.
On 1 January, a minimum wage of €8.5 entered into force in Germany and has caused a lot of concern in the sector and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) has just called for its immediate suspension. The IRU states that the “member States and European Commission should fully support a moratorium until legal clarity and practical advice to operators is obtained”. Michael Nielsen, IRU general delegate to the EU, is demanding that this law is compatible with the EU's Community legal framework and that international road haulage companies are given sufficient information and a reasonable period to adapt, “before any measure with such a profound impact on the industry is introduced”. He criticised the fact that the new law applies to all transport operations in Germany, even when a truck is simply transiting the country for a few hours. It is not acceptable that German authorities can impose fines on companies of up to €500,000 for breaking the new law. He also deplored the fact that there is no legal clarity and no practical information has been made available to operators, European institutions or member states.
The European Commission has also taken note of the concerns expressed by around 10 different member states on the subject. The European Commissioner for Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen, discussed this case with the German Federal Minister responsible for employment, earlier this week (see EUROPE 11239). The European Council committee is expecting information from the German authorities on the subject by the end of next month, as part of the EU pilot mechanism framework (see EUROPE 11237). (MD)