In January this year, several Zimbabwean truck drivers employed by Hegelmann – a large haulier with subsidiaries in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, France and Germany, among others – demonstrated remarkable courage. They pulled into parking areas, refusing to continue work, standing up against exploitation.
Back in Zimbabwe, they were recruited in early 2024 along tens of other co-nationals with the promise of a starting wage of 1500 euros per month, which would increase to 2200 euros after a few months. At the time, they were also asked to bring over a few thousand euros to cover the costs needed to settle in themselves.
Although they arrived in the EU in August 2024, they were paid around 600 euros only in mid-December. They received no other allowance. They were employed on Slovak contracts but carried out no activity in Slovakia. Since they started effectively driving, they had slept in their trucks without being given any other kind of accommodation.
The conflict sparked when, without previous notice, their employer summoned them to cover the costs the company had ‘invested’ in them so far, totalling 3000 euros each.
The drivers disputed the employer’s decisions and decided to stop working. At that time, a few drivers were in parking areas of Germany, Italy, and France. The company sent people to force them out of the trucks. Several trucks were disconnected from power sources, including heating, leaving the drivers in total isolation to spend nights in cold truck cabins. The company took control of one of the trucks and driver and drove towards the Czech border, telling him that he’d be deported to his country of origin once he arrived in the Czech Republic.
This case shows breaches of EU rules on driving and rest time, posting of workers, and many more. Similarly to Gräfenhausen, company practices are well within modern slavery and exploitation of vulnerable workers.
Hegelmann had used its business model to subcontract these drivers in between its subsidiaries, in employment and work schemes that involved several member states, as usual, taking advantage of poor cross-border enforcement of the EU rules.
Since this started, ETF-affiliated members have assisted the protesting drivers.
What is our take on this?
Gräfenhausen is not an isolated case; exploiting third-country nationals is a growing business model that risks corrupting a sector regulated by one of the best articulated EU legal frames but battered by poor enforcement. After five years of the Mobility Package, authorities and policymakers have failed to control wrongdoers who now risk to rule the sector. In the past year, trade unions have been approached by 400 drivers in road freight, all victims of exploitation, unpaid wages and breaches of law and their rights.
Hauliers constantly complain publicly about the shortage of drivers. Still, instead of respecting the law and providing legal pay and working conditions, they resort to third-country nationals, a much more vulnerable pool of workers they exploit to the maximum.
Searching to pay the minimum possible for the maximum profit, multinational road transport customers continue to use these rogue hauliers. In doing this, they are implicitly responsible for labour and human rights abuses in their supply chains.
What ETF asks for from the EU and national authorities
Latest on Hegelmann case
Following the exploitation scandal involving the Zimbabwe drivers, the German snack food company Lorenz put an end to their cooperation with Hegelmann on January 31, for good.
The Slovakian Hegelmann subsidiary Global Transporte, at the core of the scandal, had advertised that it was working for well-known clients including Lufthansa, VW, Porsche, Mercedes, Zalando, and Lidl. Meanwhile, the company’s homepage is no longer accessible.