A new case of labour exploitation has gained attention in the Netherlands, this time involving an Uzbek driver employed by the Lithuanian company Baltic Transline. According to the Dutch media outlet l1nieuws, the dispute began on 24 January 2025, when Šerbodzek Khudayberdiev, the driver's name, stopped his truck in the Venlo area, blocking the shipment of cheese he was transporting from France to Denmark and refusing to continue working under exploitative conditions.
The driver told the media and associations present at the scene that he had been employed by the company for about six months and had been paid so little that he was forced to survive, along with his African and Asian colleagues, on just a few hundred euros per month. Šerbodzek recounted that he had suffered unjustified deductions and received salaries far lower than those agreed upon. However, after requesting clarification from his employer, he was met with further deductions from his pay, justified by what he described as implausible reasons, such as alleged errors or damages that never occurred.
This led him to resign from the company and block the truck, invoking his right of retention—the legal possibility of withholding the goods until all outstanding payments were settled. According to associations, Baltic Transline subsequently attempted to recover the trailer through local companies, which reportedly refused to intervene in what they deemed a highly sensitive matter. The company then confiscated the driver's work permit, threatening him with immediate expulsion from Europe. Various media sources report that the threats continued when representatives from the Lithuanian company arrived on the scene, attempting to seize the vehicle, prompting intervention from the authorities and trade unions.
"When I asked for our payslips to be handed over, I was told that in Lithuania, this is not a legal requirement," Šerbodzek explained. "Fortunately, our European colleagues informed us of the actual regulations. Moreover, what we are paid does not match what is stated on the payslip. I am willing to cooperate, but not before I receive my documents and payslips."
The dispute has attracted significant attention in the Netherlands, even reaching parliamentary discussions. Some members of the Socialist Party (SP) have submitted two parliamentary questions to the government, addressing the ministers of Infrastructure and Social Affairs, calling for stricter oversight of truck drivers' working conditions and large-scale inspections of cabotage operations and foreign transport companies involved in the increasingly frequent driver strikes.
The party has also requested information on the measures the ministers intend to implement to protect this employee during his protest and has urged government intervention to ensure that the driver receives all outstanding payments from his employer. Despite these parliamentary inquiries, the Dutch government appears unable to tackle alone an issue affecting the entire European Union, not just the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Baltic Transline, which was already embroiled in an exploitation scandal in 2021 following a complaint by the Dutch trade union FNV, has yet to release any statement on the matter.
Marco Martinelli
