EU hauliers and drivers need a common salary calculator for posted drivers

Brussels: Mobility Package 1 provisions regarding the posting of drivers became applicable almost two years ago in the EU. Transport operators are already expected to follow the new rules when they pay drivers posted in host countries.

But national renumeration rules are often very unclear. IRU and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) have asked the European Commission to develop a standard salary calculation template.

According to Mobility Package 1 provisions, as a rule, drivers carrying out transport operations in EU Member States other than the Member State where the employer of the driver is based are deemed as posted. There are some exceptions for specific situations, such as bilateral transports and transit.

Posted drivers must be paid with remuneration in the host country for the time worked in that country. To make this possible, EU Members States are legally obliged to enact implementing rules and make clear the remuneration they prescribe for road transport workers in the case of posting.

Despite legal obligations that already bind transport operators and Member States, road haulage carriers and drivers still have major difficulties to understand and apply the complicated and numerous national provisions on minimum remuneration.

In a letter to EU commissioners Adina Valean and Nicolas Schmit, IRU and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) have therefore asked the European Commission to equip Member States, operators and drivers with the right templates, guidance, and a calculator to enable the application of the posting of drivers’ rules on remuneration.

IRU EU Director Raluca Marian said, “Employers owe an adequate remuneration to their workers for the time they work abroad. The simple question is: how much? Currently, in most cases, nobody knows with precision. Employers and employees are now looking at the European Commission’s leaders on transport and labour, Commissioners Valean and Schmit, to shed light by providing the necessary calculator we all need.

“The previous Commission proposed Mobility Package 1 rules. We call upon the current Commission, before the end of their mandate, to close the gap and enable our sector to comply with the rules.”