On 28 April, after a six-week strike and a failed attempt to disperse them using force, more than 60 truck drivers from Georgia and Uzbekistan finally left their picket off a German motorway, and headed home with their wage arrears paid in full.
More and more truck drivers from post-Soviet countries are filling up vacancies in the European logistics industry. This spring’s historic strike marked the first time they had engaged in industrial action on such a wide – or successful – scale.
The drivers had gathered to protest after being paid less than the €80 a day [£69] they had been promised in job adverts, their wages being chipped off by overpriced services, and fines imposed by their employers. In some cases, drivers were receiving monthly payments of just a few hundred euros despite working ten to 12 hours a day. Each of them were owed different amounts, which they wrote with adhesive tape on their trucks.
