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Germany has rethink over minimum wage rules for in-transit hauliers
[ February 2, 2015 // Chris ]The German government has suspended application of new minimum wage rules to transit haulage operations, in the face of a backlash from East European EU nations. Barely a month after introduction of the legislation, Germany said it had decided to exclude road transport operators crossing its territory from the scheme until it obtains “clarification of the European legal issues”, said German Labour Minister Andrea Nahles after meeting his Polish counterpart, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, on 30 January.
Under a new German regulation introduced on 1 January, all workers in Germany must be paid wages of at least €8.50 gross per hour.
Legal experts must now decide whether hauliers in transit across the country constitute ‘posted workers under EU legislation. The International Road Transport Union, which represents road freight companies, argues that Directive 96/71/EC does not deal with road transport. But trade unionists claim that road transport operators should not be excluded from the posting directive, while admitting that legislation, particularly regarding cabotage operations, is far from clear in this respect.