from what I can understand from various links in many languages, the minimum wage also applies to all foreign hauliers either loading to, from or just transiting Germany. your opinions?
Yet another sheet of paper to carry in the wagon, if you ever go to Germany.
not quite that simple, as : "Companies that fall under the legislation are obliged to give a written notification prior to the work being performed to the appropriate authorities (customs office of Cologne). The employer needs to notify
who is in charge of the work,
the type of work concerned and
the duration in time of the work, etc. "
milodon:
not quite that simple, as : "Companies that fall under the legislation are obliged to give a written notification prior to the work being performed to the appropriate authorities (customs office of Cologne). The employer needs to notifywho is in charge of the work,
the type of work concerned and
the duration in time of the work, etc. "
That’s not the way I read it.
If you have the necessary documentation only in your home country (let’s say France), you only need to add a letter ensuring that the documents can be made available on request in German and in Germany. You can give the relevant documentation to the driver, when he goes to Germany to carry in his truck.
Instead you need to send the papers to the customs office and need to keep them in your records for two years (§ 16 MiLOG) and be able to present them when required.
so not only do you have to keep the documentation in your home country or germany somewhere, but you still have to notify the zollamt of your impending trip, when, where and etc beforehand. this is one of the english pages about it, I’ve also read about it in estonian and the letter from the polish international hauliers associtaion to the IRU. it was stated somewhere that zollamt had already hired 800 people to deal with the extra bureaucracy
milodon:
Instead you need to send the papers to the customs office and need to keep them in your records for two years (§ 16 MiLOG) and be able to present them when required.
so not only do you have to keep the documentation in your home country or germany somewhere, but you still have to notify the zollamt of your impending trip, when, where and etc beforehand. this is one of the english pages about it, I’ve also read about it in estonian and the letter from the polish international hauliers associtaion to the IRU. it was stated somewhere that zollamt had already hired 800 people to deal with the extra bureaucracy
It’s not the best translation, so if you’ve read better translations in other languages you’ll be better informed than me.
But the way I read it and the comment from BGL makes me think I’m right suggests for transport operations you can have the information held in another Country, the example they give is France, but it must be available on request and in German. And the driver must carry a letter stating that.
If you transport goods for short period of times and close to the border on a regular basis, you do not have to transmit documentation for every trip, but it is sufficient to combine trips into one transmission for a period of up to 6 months. If you have the necessary documentation only in your home country (let’s say France), you only need to add a letter ensuring that the documents can be made available on request in German and in Germany. You can give the relevant documentation to the driver, when he goes to Germany to carry in his truck. This is seen as very critical by BGL, the German association that is representing road hauliers, as it might discriminate Germans, because it is much easier to control them than to order documentation from a foreign office.
From Jan 1st 2015, a contract of employment, in German, stipulating that the minimum wage for each hour worked will be paid should be carried by the driver when in Germany.
Your digital friend in the cab will of course supply evidence of working time.
The jury seems to be out at the moment on transit journeys through Germany but cabotage operations or any operations with a core area of work in Germany will fall under the new minimum wage law.
The lads who frequent the Euro van driving forums seem to think that this is aimed not so much at HGV drivers, but more at the fleets of EE sleeper pod vans which have pretty much decimated the home grown German light haulage/courier market.
It applies to ALL workers, with a few exceptions (practicals, kids under 18, voluntary workers, etc).
Workers in certain branches will be subject to more stringent documentary proof:
Construction,
Catering and accommodation,
Passenger transport sector,
Forwarding, transport and logistics industry,
Fairground amusements,
Building cleaning industry,
Meat Industry,
Assembly and dismantling of fairs and exhibitions,
Forestry companies.
In my book, any attempt to dismantle the modern slave trade brought about by the exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous, profit greedy, shareholder arsekissing employers due to the eastern expansion of the EU gets my vote
Inselaffe:
It applies to ALL workers, with a few exceptions (practicals, kids under 18, voluntary workers, etc).Workers in certain branches will be subject to more stringent documentary proof:
Construction,
Catering and accommodation,
Passenger transport sector,
Forwarding, transport and logistics industry,
Fairground amusements,
Building cleaning industry,
Meat Industry,
Assembly and dismantling of fairs and exhibitions,
Forestry companies.In my book, any attempt to dismantle the modern slave trade brought about by the exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous, profit greedy, shareholder arsekissing employers due to the eastern expansion of the EU gets my vote
You took the words right out off my mouth
If only the Brit government would take the same strong line, a bit like the 45 hour weekend break rules that are, I’m led to believe, being aimed at EE drivers whom are spending countless weeks on the road, undercutting west European hauliers out off existence 
Inselaffe:
In my book, any attempt to dismantle the modern slave trade brought about by the exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous, profit greedy, shareholder arsekissing employers due to the eastern expansion of the EU gets my vote
yes I guess its the thought that counts, otherwise the new law is kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater - loads of paperwork for hauliers who are by the book anyway and does anyone really think, that it is hard to prove that you are receiving a mucher higher salary than is really being paid? there is an investigative tv show here, did a segment on estonians working for a crooked company, building cruise ships in norway. as the norwegian unions demanded the estonians be paid the norwegian union minimum wage when working in norway, the solution was that the company paid the estonians the required wage and then the worker had to get most of it out from the nearest atm and hand it over to his boss.
I give it three months of utter chaos and then it will be crumpled up and thrown into the incinerator of history by the EU, violating free trade and all that.
I don’t think this directly aimed at East European workers as such, I think the Germans are closing loopholes before they start the minimum wage. Obviously one loophole in certain trades is that work could be done in Germany by a company based in another Europe country employing workers on that Countries pay rates, which would include the UK as our minimum wage is lower than the new German one.
I doubt it will be found against EU free trade policy, as I’m pretty sure the Germans would have check it and crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s.
I also don’t think it will be ripped up in a few months, but I also doubt every truck driver or foreign worker will get check every time they cross the border, instead they’ll target their efforts and of course there will always be those who get away with it.
and it won’t stop East European workers getting jobs in Germany, I was talking to a bloke who owns a company who build trailers in the Germany, he was saying he employs several Polish welders, not because it’s cheaper, but he can’t get enough skilled German welders in the local area.
milodon:
Inselaffe:
In my book, any attempt to dismantle the modern slave trade brought about by the exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous, profit greedy, shareholder arsekissing employers due to the eastern expansion of the EU gets my votethere is an investigative tv show here, did a segment on estonians working for a crooked company, building cruise ships in norway. as the norwegian unions demanded the estonians be paid the norwegian union minimum wage when working in norway, the solution was that the company paid the estonians the required wage and then the worker had to get most of it out from the nearest atm and hand it over to his boss.
.
Sounds a bit like the gang masters over here in the UK, who charge there “workers” (now mostly east europeans) to live in the poor quality rented houses, supplied as part off the job, and owned by the Gang master.
But that said, politcians from all over west europe are realising that the public are growing fed up with this whole European project, and if this is just a small brick in the wall off fairness to all, and not just those newest to the club, then I say bring it on
True, it will be a bugger to police but a step in the right direction.
Of course the cynic in me says that it is simply a cosmetic operation as those who have most to gain from exploiting cheap labour sit cheek by jowl with the lawmakers…
milodon:
… it was stated somewhere that zollamt had already hired 800 people to deal with the extra bureaucracy
Even if they were all only paid the German NMW, that’s going to be one hell of a burden for the taxpayer.
I can’t see this being cost neutral 
There you go, Dave: sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/p … -1.1948585
As mentioned in the article, 800 is the yearly number of recruits being trained up to work for the Zoll.
" It will take years until sufficient personnel for the control of the minimum wage is operational" said a bloke
Inselaffe:
There you go, Dave: sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/p … -1.1948585As mentioned in the article, 800 is the yearly number of recruits being trained up to work for the Zoll.
" It will take years until sufficient personnel for the control of the minimum wage is operational" said a bloke
Hi Inselaffe,
Cheers for the link 
Due to the Germans (normally) being a pretty compliant Volk, I’ll own up that hadn’t anywhere near realised the scale of the employers’ incompliance to the NMW rules, or the amount collected from the fines that have been handed out.
Given the sheer size of the job, it’s no wonder there’s a whole Abteilung dedicated to it.
For all workers’ sakes, I also hope the cheese doesn’t have as many holes as an Allgäuer Emmentaler!
Turning now to the expectation of wages documentation being available in German, I think it might catch out some of the UK firms who pay their drivers a ‘day rate,’ because that often works out to be a quite a poxy rate once it’s translated into an hourly rate.
Carrying on from that, I also think it’ll catch out quite a number of EE firms, which indirectly might do something for haulage rates.
I can just imagine the opponents of the national switch from having to do almost everything through DB saying “I told you so.”
(BTW, I can’t remember exactly when that changed 
)
Power to the FKS. 
guretruck.com/pages/New.aspx … 8T/jDQnFg=
The new legislation, called Mindestlohngesetz — (MiLoG), (MiLoG), establishes the minimum wage for workers in Germany at 8.50 € gross per working hour.
This law concerns all the foreign haulers doing cabotage in Germany and it is coming is force on 01/01/2105
According to this law, every trip will have to be reported to the competent customs office.
We have asked at the central Customs Office in Potsdam and we have been informed that you should send a fax to “Bundesfinanzdirektion West” fax number: 0049 221 964870 with the following information:
-
Name and surname of the driver providing the transport and his date of birth.
-
When the job begins and how long it takes (cabotage).
-
Place of work / cabotage.
-
The place in Germany where salary details are stored, complying with minimum wage requirements.
-
Name and surname, date of birth and address of the German citizen responsible for each cabotage transport.
-
Name and surname of a “Zustellungsbevollmächtigter” in Germany, a person authorised to receive all correspondence and who is not the person responsible for point 5.
-
Written evidence proving compliance with the employee’s minimum wage.
If the driver is “hired” (employment agencies) provide the name, surname and date of birth of the agent.
The proposed fine for not filing the form can be up to 30,000 €, and for not paying the driver the required minimum wage up to 500.000 €
The fine can be imposed on either the carrier or the hauler.
COMMENTS
1- Theoretically, if you put the switch of the tachograph on the “available” mode this would not affect the law.
2- It is not clear what is meant by the written evidence referred to in point 7.
3- It seems the official form will be published on 19 December 2014.
4- We believe that it might be a hidden regulation regarding cabotage which acts against the cabotage regulation itself.
5-It is hoped that the authorities will create 1600 new job positions with this legislation.
Guretruck has already a strategy , but we prefer not to announce until the new form is published by customs Service on Friday.
Good on them
Simon:
Yet another sheet of paper to carry in the wagon, if you ever go to Germany.
I have no doubt that my company knows absolutely nothing about this - I hope that any fines issued only go to the company’s involved and not to the drivers