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A rude awakening
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In a new series of investigations, CM crosses the Channel to find out what life is like for truckers across Europe. We begin by discovering that Polish drivers are returning home to face tough conditions.
Words: E Blake Berry
IT'S COMMON KNOWLEDGE that the flood of Polish workers moving to Britain for well-paid work has started to recede. Many Poles are being lured home by a stronger domestic currency and family ties, and a number of these returnees are transport workers.
After years spent abroad, these drivers may be shocked by the infrastructural and legislative difficulties facing the Polish haulage industry.
According to the Independent Union of Drivers (NZZK), there are about 200,000 professional drivers in Poland. Most are employed by firms. because self-employment violates Polish regulations concerning safety inspections and retirement funds, but independent drivers often find ways to get around those rules.
Haulage in Polandisalmostexclusively A Zenon K opycinski, paid per kilometre, but rates aren't NZZK president attractive. "You have to drive about 10,000km a month to make a living," says Marcin Medala, a self-employed lorry driver from Sandomierz, who only works domestically. He adds that the average wage in his area amounts to 2.000-2,500 zloty (about £472-090) a month.
Jaroslaw Zadrozniak, a haulier from Losice, says he makes about 4,000-4,500 zloty (94441,063) a month, while Jacek Wisniewski, a Warsaw-based driver employed by a construction firm, Isays he earns about 6,000 zloty (1,415) a month. According to Zenon Kopyscinski, president of , the NZZK, many drivers Iend up with just a bit over the national minimum wage, which. in Poland, stands at 1,126 zloty (£266) per month. International drivers earn a daily allowance of €30 (23.70) salaries, Kopyscinski says, can amount to 4,500-5,000 zloty—often because they're breaking the rules.
Drivers tend to agree. "It's not possible and it's not realistic to follow the regulations and earn enough," says M edala. and their Lorry drivers returning to Poland are helping to reduce labour shortages, hut they're finding that workers from countries even further east, such as Romania, Ukraine and Belarus, have arrived in their absence.
"They earn less money than a Pole would, and it's enough for them," complains Zadrozniak, whose home in Losice is approximately 60km from the Belarusian border. Drivers from more central and western areas of Poland, have other concerns besides foreign competition, though.
NZZK's Kopyscinski lists a number of problems plaguing the industry. "There's a lack of infrastructure, such as secure places to park, and the roads are in a horrible condition," he complains.
-In Poland, we have 836Iurt of dual carriageway and 800km of expressway [single carriageway]," Kopyscinski says. "In Germany, they have about 15,000km of autobahn."
Fuel prices and road conditions were also common complaints among drivers. "The roads are abysmal," agrees Wisniewski. Medala complains that the majority of petrol stations lack basic facilities for drivers, such as showers. Parking is also a major problem.
"If you're self-employed, there's nowhere to go. If I drive anywhere, then I live in the truck for a week. And there's no toilet in there." he says.
Industrial relations
Opinions on employers vary. Wisniewski says that there are a number of good ones, while Zadrozniak believes they sometimes force hauliers to break the rules and work longer hours.
-Exploitation of drivers is common," agrees Kopyscinski. "In general, though, Polish employers don't do anything employers in other EU countries wouldn't do. But there are probably more inspections in these countries and the laws are probably better upheld by the appropriate agencies."
On the other hand, employers have plenty of complaints about Polish lorry drivers as well. Ewa Kaminska, owner of EJK Uslugi Transportowe, has 20 LGVs and employs the same number of drivers. Exploiting drivers, according to Kaminska, mainly takes place in very small firms. She adds: "Those with one to two LGVs break the law regularly and don't pay attention to rules."
Among her complaints about drivers is fuel theft. Asked if GPS tracking couldn't help alleviate the problem. Kaminska says GPS units are a waste of money, since drivers often break them.
Her vehicles are equipped with both analogue and digital tachographs, but she said drivers sometimes adjust them. "They put magnets behind them."
However, Andrzej Bernat, a tachograph technician in Warsaw, says he doesn't come across too many tachographs that have been tampered with.
Medala also says that few drivers fake their tachograph data, and that doing so could cost a firm up to 30,000 zloty (E7,070) in fines. "Sometimes they check me twice a week, sometimes nut at all," he adds.
Standardisation Poland's entry to the European Union in 2004 and the adoption of its social rules and standards has generally improved the industry Zadrozniak notes that entry to the Schengen zone (a relaxing of internal border control within EU mainland countries) has reduced driving times immensely with Medala commenting that Polish authorities are now making more road repairs. "Before [entering the EU] they didn't even try," he says.
However, Kopyscinski and others arc worried about the future of the industry in Poland, particularly as further EU regulations are being implemented.
From September 10 2009, EU and Polish law will require commercial drivers to hold a professional certification. Kopyscinski estimates the cost of the introductory driving course will then be 6,000-10,000 zloty (i1,424-£2,374), a Category C licence will be 2,200 zloty (1522) and a C-rE licence will he 4,000 zloty (L949). The average monthly gross wage in Poland was 2,984 zloty (1708.60) in March, according to the Polish Central Statistical Office.
"This is a very large amount of money, almost unaffordable, taking into consideration that drivers don't usually come from families of high social status. Their income is too low to afford an outlay of 10,000-14,000 zloty (12.374£3,324)." Kopyscinski says.
Kaminska agrees. "It's a sum that most people can't pay" she says. Employers won't be willing to pay it either, she adds. "I wouldn't pay for a course like that as I know the driver would go and find a job somewhere else after I'd paid."
In the end, Kopyscinski says, the cost of regulations can not be borne without aid from the state. "If this isn't given, it may lead to the gradual extinction of the professional driver in Poland." •