According to the agreement, described on the labour inspectorate’s official website, representatives of both parties are conducting unannounced truck driver checks at border control points controlled by the VSAT Varėna border guards.
Commenting on the action, Jonas Gricius , Lithuania’s Chief Labour Inspector, said:
“The joint inspections have been very successful, because by joining forces, extensive schemes of illegal work are revealed. In such inspections, it is possible to identify not only cases of smuggling, but also to find out more carefully whether the employment contracts submitted by the drivers are fictitious or not. For example, it was established that as many as 88 persons were working illegally in one transport company.”
Gricius added:
“Illegal work causes great damage to both the state and the working person. Workers find themselves in the position of a slave because they lose the right to social guarantees. Dishonest businesses participate in unfair competition and taxes are not paid to the state. Consequently, corruption increases and the trust of the public falls. Therefore, the attitude of VDI and our colleagues VSAT towards this situation is uncompromising.”
During one of the inspections at the Šalčininkai border control post near Belarus, officers checked 12 persons driving for Lithuanian hauliers. It turned out only 2 of them were employed legally.
Overall, so far 164 cases of illegal work have been recorded during the checks, resulting in companies being fined a combined €150,000. One unnamed company alone was responsible for over half of the fine total.
Photo: Petr Magera, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image cropped)
