The Road Transport Due Diligence, a foundation committed to defending the rights of workers in supply and transport chains, has recently released a report on the conditions faced by drivers from Central Asia working in Europe. This investigation unveils the processes of immigration and exploitation within the continent. The study, which includes interviews with 166 drivers, sheds light on the recruitment and exploitation of labor, where basic human and labor rights are routinely denied. Immigrant workers' conditions are deliberately kept ambiguous, with irregular paychecks and even rarer salary payments, amidst frequent deductions for vaguely defined damages or compensations.
Despite the European transport market operating under clear and up-to-date regulations, certain groups of workers appear to lack any legal protection and seem to exist in a realm separate from the European Union. The study highlights how companies at the top of the transport and supply chains benefit at the drivers' expense. A significant portion of the drivers, eighty-two from Kyrgyzstan and fifty from Uzbekistan, with others recruited from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, reported having to pay a fee ranging from $500 to $4,500 in cash for expatriation documents, work permits, licenses, and sometimes even travel expenses. This practice contravenes the International Labour Organization's principles, which state that no recruitment fees should be charged to job seekers.
Recruitment was facilitated through collaboration with local agencies, both private and public, which advertised job opportunities on social media, billboards, or through informal networks. The countries of origin are characterized by high unemployment rates, low wages, fewer job opportunities, and a high percentage of young males. Furthermore, local governments actively promote overseas employment, with Kyrgyzstan, through its Ministry of Labor, establishing a center to assist citizens working abroad by finding cooperation with European employers and facilitating information campaigns, recruitment, and hiring processes. According to the Rtdd research, obtaining the necessary documents takes about two months, but upon arrival in Europe, candidates faced unexpected additional expenses, often resorting to loans, sometimes financed by the employers themselves, to cover these costs.
Most drivers entered the EU via Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, or Poland, where they signed their work contracts, presumably where they would work. However, the study found that these were merely entry points, as drivers were sent across Europe without returning to their base for several months. Except for newly started drivers, all reported being on the road for periods ranging from two months to a year, without holidays, rest, or returns home.
None of the interviewees had a clear understanding of their hourly or monthly wages, social security, or daily allowance structure. The documents provided imprecise references to salaries and lacked transparent descriptions of remuneration, while a daily lump sum payment promised at the signing found no reflection in the contracts. The actual payment ranged from 15 to 40 euros per day for the first few months, eventually reaching 85 euros after the training period. In reality, drivers received only a small advance on a weekly or monthly basis, with the balance recognized only upon returning to the base after several months on the road.
At payment time, drivers often reported deductions for opaque reasons and were forced to sign waivers without ever receiving a pay slip copy. The few pay slips available to the Rtdd Foundation revealed none met standard requirements for transparent working conditions, with some even handwritten and displaying discrepancies between worked days and recognized amounts.
The Rtdd report also outlines laws on rest, driving hours, the hiring of workers from other countries, and key immigration rules. Supported by data, evidence, and statistics, the study gives considerable space to the drivers' own stories, often found in parking areas or at the center of protests, like the one that erupted in Grafenhausen, Germany, a few months ago. One driver from Kyrgyzstan shared his experience of arriving in Lithuania, only to find his truck wouldn't start, leaving him to spend a cold night and day in the vehicle without heating, wearing all his clothes.
Another driver recounted the story of a colleague who died in his vehicle in front of a company's gates, lamenting that no one seems to care about the lives and deaths of truck drivers. Other workers were hired in Lithuania but discovered their contracts were registered with Polish companies, with three colleagues assigned to drive in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, left stranded in a parking lot without their belongings after their trucks were confiscated and fined by Belgian police, only to be rescued and repatriated by the Rtdd team.
Despite protests in Germany involving the Agmaz group, the European Union has yet to take decisive action on the issue, and the exploitation of drivers remains an unresolved emergency.
By Marco Martinelli
