The transport companies of the Polish Mazur Group, against which Eastern European truck drivers have been protesting for almost a month at the Gräfenhausen rest area on the A5, reject the accusation of late payments. "The opinion of my clients is that all amounts were paid to the drivers on time," Krzysztof Skawiańczyk, a lawyer for Agmaz, Lukmaz and Imperia, told F.A.Z. He attributed the dispute to the settlement modalities.

Barbara Schäder

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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"These wages are paid with a notice period of 25 days, this payment period is relatively long and is carried out after the submission of all possible documents related to the execution of the transport service," Skawiańczyk said: "This follows from the contracts, but it can also be different in certain cases."

According to the drivers and the union representatives who support them, many of the 65 men have not been paid for several months. Just last week, some of the drivers, who come from Georgia and Uzbekistan, received payments from their clients.

The protest action, which has been going on since March 20, has caused a nationwide sensation since the transport entrepreneur Lukasz Mazur appeared at the rest area on Good Friday with employees of a Polish security service. When they tried to get into one of the trucks, there was a scuffle with the striking drivers, which was stopped by the police.

Attorney Skawiańczyk said that his clients had never intended to "forcibly or unlawfully take possession of these cars." The employees of the security service should have "first and foremost protected Mr. Mazur and helped with the voluntary handover of the cars."

The lawyer did not want to comment on the earnings of the drivers, who themselves report daily rates of around 80 euros. Depending on the "number of hours worked, work experience and seniority," this amount will be exceeded, Skawiańczyk said. Payments for penalty notices received by the drivers would be deducted from their wages. When asked if they would also have to pay for damage to the vehicles, he said: "According to the contract, the drivers, as contractors, are responsible to a very limited extent for the property entrusted to them."

Consultant: "Accounting documents are missing"

The trade union-affiliated advisory network Fair Mobility criticises the Mazur Group for refusing to provide drivers with billing documents in the current dispute. Skawiańczyk commented: "All this will be made available to the drivers, but on the spot, in Poland, at the headquarters of the companies."

According to employment lawyer Tobias Polloczek, partner at the law firm CMS Hasche Sigle in Frankfurt, the case reveals how difficult it is "to legally deal with very strange working conditions in the EU internal market with apparently identical legal rules". The German minimum wage does not apply to pure transit journeys through Germany, according to the website of the German General Directorate of Customs. 'Transit journeys are carriages through German territory without loading or unloading cargo and without picking up or dropping off passengers.'