What is the dispute about?
German organisation Faire Mobilität (Fair Mobility), which lobbies for fair conditions for drivers in the road transport sector, has been following developments at Amgaz closely since a strike and protest began at a Gräfenhausen rest area on Friday April 3rd.
Dozens of drivers who operate Amgaz’s trucks claim that they have been unpaid for the best part of 2 months, an accusation their employer allegedly denies. The drivers are still on strike to this day.
What happened on Good Friday?
The fallout over the dispute escalated over the weekend when a security firm was hired to recover Amgaz’s vehicles.
Edwin Atema, a representative of the Dutch FNV transport union, tweeted video footage of the scuffles that broke out after the security staff had arrived on site.
Atema described the staff that had been sent to recover the trucks as “security gangsters” and praised the intervention of the German police.
This is why Road Transport Die Diligence is needed:
LUKMAZ-AGMAZ-IMPERIA company called in private security gangsters to kick the Georgian and Uzbek drivers out of the vehicles.
The drivers stand as a rock and fight for their families. Great German police intervention. pic.twitter.com/omqWdeGk1I
— Edwin Atema (@AtemaEdwin) April 7, 2023
What has the security company said about the case?
The security company hired to recover the trucks, named ‘Rutkowski Patrol’, is run by Krzysztof Rutkowski. Over the years, the 63-year-old has become something of a b-list celebrity in Poland having had spells working as a politician and on a detective-themed TV show. He has even appeared on the Polish edition of Dancing with the Stars.
Speaking about the developments on Friday to Polish news website Onet, Rutkowski slammed the German police and defended his client. The security firm boss rebutted claims his staff are hooligans, telling Onet that his employees are people “who know how to act in accordance with the law, principles, ethics and police craftsmanship”.
Rutkowski also labelled the actions of the German police as a “scandal” and claimed officers denied one of his staff access to his medicine. He added that his employees were released without charge some 8 hours after being arrested.
The Rutkowski Patrol boss criticised the striking lorry drivers too, accusing them of staying in Germany illegally due to their visas having run out. Rutkowski also told Onet that his client was losing thousands in fines due to late deliveries, while some fresh items in the trucks will likely have to be written off.
Der polnische Arbeitgeber hat Schlägertrupps angeheuert, um die Proteste der Lkw-Fahrer in #Gräfenhausen zu beenden. Es handelt sich mutmaßlich um #Rechtsextremisten. Polizei, Gewerkschaften und Presse sind vor Ort. #Solidarität @dgb_news @_verdi pic.twitter.com/3n9sFNP029
— Faire Mobilität (@FaireMobilitaet) April 7, 2023
How has Amgaz been impacted?
It seems that solidarity with Amgaz doesn’t appear to stretch too far beyond Rutkowski and his colleagues. The opposite can be said about the drivers, who have reportedly been receiving essentials as well as goodwill messages from trade unions, fellow drivers and even local residents that recently became aware of the situation.
Amgaz is also seemingly under more pressure to address the driver dispute so as to keep hold of its customers.
According to Faire Mobilität, well-known logistics names like sennder, CH Robinson and LKW Walter are among the companies using Amgaz’s services. Moreover, Edwin Atema of the FNV union claims that DHL, IKEA and Volkswagen are Amgaz clients.
Offener Brief der Lkw-Fahrer in #Gräfenhausen, der sich an die Auftraggeber ihres Arbeitgebers richtet. Darin fordern sie @sennderofficial, @lkw_walter und @CHRobinson auf, sich bei dem polnischen Firmenkonsortium für das sie arbeiten, für sie einzusetzen. @FNV pic.twitter.com/YiM1HT4b3Q
— Faire Mobilität (@FaireMobilitaet) April 6, 2023
Atema told the German press yesterday that some of the companies using Amgaz have ditched the haulier after learning about its “working conditions”.
The trade union representative added that he was hopeful that some Amgaz clients would be able to convince the haulier to settle the pay dispute.
Political reactions
Meanwhile, the debacle around the strike has attracted the attention of politicians in both Germany and Poland.
Günther Rudolph, who leads the parliamentary group of SPD, one of Germany’s governing parties, announced on Easter Sunday that the SPD were standing by the side of the truck drivers “affected by exploitation and miserable working conditions and striking solely for justice and fair working conditions.”
Rudolph added: “What happened on Friday cannot be tolerated within a constitutional state.”
In addition, writing on Twitter, Polish MP Paulina Matysiak from the Razem party described the situation as a scandalous. She called on Poland’s road transport inspectorate to investigate the case, claiming the drivers were manipulated into signing contracts.
Speculative reasons for the dispute
Last week, Faire Mobilität wrote that Amgaz boss Lukasz Mazur “disputes the claims of the drivers, but refuses to present billing documents on the basis of which this could be objectively determined.” Edwin Atema also wrote last week that Amgaz believes the payments and deductions it makes to its drivers are legal.
Amgaz has yet to issue a public statement on the strike or respond to media requests for comment, making it difficult to know what exactly is happening on the ground.
If it is true that Amgaz believes it has acted legally and does not owe its drivers, and that the comments by Paulina Matysiak are also true, one could speculate that the drivers may have signed one-sided agreements that have left them with very little pay.
As was reported in the award-winning 2021 Lithuanian documentary film ‘Lorry Slaves’, there have been cases whereby haulage firms have taken advantage of the limited local language skills of 3rd-country drivers.
There have been numerous allegations of haulage firms coercing drivers into bogus self-employment or zero-hours agreements. It is said that truckers are then encouraged to flout drivers’ hours rules, only to be made liable for fines when they are caught. Some truckers may also have their wages docked for late deliveries among other things.
It is thus not impossible to have a situation whereby a driver’s wages are docked so much that they are due almost nothing. In many cases, even if the legality of such an agreement is in doubt, drivers can be defenseless as they have nobody to turn to in the event they believe they have been short changed.
The strike continues
It remains unknown as to why the drivers claim they have gone unpaid while the haulier seemingly believes it has acted legally.
However, the longer the strike goes on, and the more attention that is drawn to the case, the closer we should be to establishing the source of the dispute.