Foreign truck drivers working in France have to be able to prove since Friday that they are paid the legal minimum wage. This means unnecessary administrative red tape for Dutch transport companies, TLN believes. The industry association believes that this is putting the sector at considerable expense.
Drivers must be paid a minimum wage of €9.67 per hour in France from 1 July. Dutch drivers are paid more than this minimum wage by default, but must still be able to show administrative evidence in France. Every company must hire a representative in France, who can be reached by enforcement agencies at all times. This representative must keep the employment contract, driver's certificate, recent pay slip and proof of payment of each driver for a year and a half and be able to present them to French enforcement officers. 'Reprehensible and unacceptable,' TLN writes in a press release. The industry association speaks of an administrative circus.
'Unfeasible monster job'
TLN also questions the way in which the new law was introduced, requiring all Dutch drivers to be able to produce a copy of their employment contract and a special driver attestation from now on. The driver attestation only became available on 29 June at two in the afternoon. That gave transport companies only a day and a half to send drivers on their way properly organised. "An unfeasible monster job, as some of the drivers are on the road and will not return to the Netherlands until next week," TLN said. "So for these companies and their drivers, it is simply impossible to comply with the French law." According to the industry association, they now stand a chance of being fined 4,000 euros.
Minimum wage formally delayed
French enforcers have been instructed to be cautious about checks for the first time, but according to TLN, that does not mean that fines will not be handed out. The industry association therefore wants the minimum wage or its enforcement to be formally postponed until entrepreneurs have been able to prepare properly and there are no more ambiguities. "There is little chance of this happening. The entire European as well as national politics seems to be in the grip of the Brexit. It is utterly reprehensible and unacceptable that no one intervenes and the transport sector once again pays the bill."
Editorial LogistiekProfs
