The drivers were formally employed by a Lithuanian transport company, but according to Dutch investigative programme Pointer and trade union FNV, they spent all their time driving in Western Europe — not in Lithuania — while allegedly being paid below the rates FNV says they were entitled to under Dutch rules.
The companies named in the report are Samskip, P&O Ferrymasters, DFDS, ECS, CTV and Olof-Mega Travel Trailers.
Under Dutch civil law, creditors can seek a pre-judgment attachment before a court has ruled on the underlying claim. Such a measure does not mean the named companies have been found liable for wrongdoing. It is designed to secure assets or claims and prevent their transfer before any eventual judgment.
Lex Lecomte, a senior official at FNV Transport, said the union hoped clients would “finally wake up”.
“Because then they know that if things go wrong, they will also have to pay heavily,” he told Pointer.
‘We never drove in Lithuania’
Pointer spoke anonymously to several of the drivers involved. They said they had been formally hired through a Lithuanian employer but were deployed exclusively on Western European routes.
One driver described going unpaid for weeks at a stretch and being left to sleep in the cab rather than being given accommodation. Another said the promised wage had never materialised, with the gap between what had been agreed and what reached their account running into thousands of euros over several months of work.
The total unpaid wage claim for the four drivers now stands at €232,000, according to Pointer.
FNV argues that because the drivers were carrying out work in the Netherlands, they were entitled to Dutch pay rates regardless of where their employer was registered. The union claims the Lithuanian employment structure was used to avoid those obligations.
Lecomte described the alleged arrangement in strong terms, calling it “purely criminal behaviour” and saying such structures should be eliminated from the sector.
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He also accused Dutch clients that commissioned the transport of ignoring what was happening in their supply chains.
“These kinds of constructions are unfortunately common and are tacitly allowed by Dutch clients,” he told Pointer. “We hope they finally wake up, because most clients bury their heads in the sand.”
Why FNV is targeting the clients
What makes the dispute notable is who is being targeted. Rather than pursuing only the Lithuanian employer — which FNV says has limited assets and may be difficult to pursue across borders — the union and the drivers are also going after the Dutch companies that allegedly commissioned and benefited from the haulage work.
That approach places the case at the centre of a long-running argument in European road freight: how far clients can distance themselves from labour abuses committed by subcontractors in their supply chains.
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The Dutch road freight market, like much of Western Europe, depends heavily on cross-border subcontracting. Drivers are often hired by companies registered in lower-wage EU member states while carrying out much of their mileage in higher-wage markets.
Trade unions argue this model is routinely used to undercut local wage floors. Employers and logistics buyers, by contrast, often argue that subcontracting is a normal part of international transport and that legal responsibility depends on the specific contractual chain.
FNV’s position in this case is clear: Dutch clients should not be able to distance themselves from drivers whose work was carried out for their commercial benefit, whatever the employment paperwork says.
Pointer said the named companies had been approached for comment before publication. The broadcaster reported that they had responded “in different ways”, although the accessible version of the report did not set out those responses in detail.
