Tomilinas supports the procedure that allows to ensure higher wages for drivers: Buivydas warns, it reduces competition

 

 

Buivydas is wrong, higher wages for drivers do not reduce competition, but reduce the competitive advantage of Lithuanian businessmen over Western businessmen who pay significantly higher wages for the same work. What, you expected to mock foreigners working in Lithuania's trucks for an unlimited time, and to pay them slave cents? People have understood your tricks and are fixing you little by little. Learn to live like everyone else.

 

     "Due to the tax reform implemented in Poland, which forced  to pay drivers higher wages, more and more carriers, who have massively moved their operations to Poland in recent years, are returning and re-registering the purchased vehicles in Lithuania. A similar system also exists in Lithuania, where the carrier's salary reaches 1.65 times the minimum monthly salary (MMA).

 

     Tomas Tomilinas, a member of the "Vardan Lietuvos" democratic group, considers such a change a good step, which eliminates "primitive" way of competition and improves conditions for drivers in both countries. At that time, the general secretary of the Lithuanian national association of motor carriers "Linava" Zenonas Buivydas warns that the salary set in both countries will rise, thus competition with carriers from other European countries will fall.

 

     T. Tomilinas: this is a step towards healthy competition

 

     Tomas Tomilinas, a member of the "Vardan Lietuvos" democrats faction, says that the carrier taxation system in both Lithuania and Poland ensures that long-haul companies will not run away in order to improve the conditions of drivers. According to him, this will ensure that "primitive way of competition", where the aim is to compete on the cheapness of labor, which has a negative impact on drivers, will not remain in the near future.

 

     "All that was predicted by our long-haul system, our logistics companies that tried to move to Poland or threatened to move to Poland. All that pressure is gone, because Poland followed the path of Lithuania and increased the minimum social standards, and this also applies to our drivers. As a result, that attraction factor is gone. But as we see, what are the trends of companies - companies are actively establishing themselves in Lithuania and are actively registering new trucks", commented T. Tomilinas to Elta.

 

     "Countries are simply competing for taxes, for the cheapness of labor." And that's a big problem because it's competition that drives standards down. And this is changing little by little, that primitive way of competition will soon disappear and companies will compete the way they should compete - through the quality of services, according to that classical market theory," he said.

 

     However, according to him, although drivers are better compensated for their work, many shady aspects and other injustices remain in this sector. According to the parliamentarian, these illegal actions of transport companies deprive the state budget of profits and cost taxpayers, because state roads are repaired, and drivers who are sick due to overwork are also treated at the state's expense.

 

     "Here I see, not only is it a social problem, but also a budget problem, because every undeclared hour costs the taxpayers a huge amount of money and in road maintenance in the treatment of trucks and drivers. What the industry itself should pay for," he said.

 

     "We have many other loopholes: undeclared work, deep fatigue, generally very large shadowy aspects of that business. And the trade unions do their job and tell how many massive violations of labor law or safety there are. We really have more than one hundred million budget income opportunities there. There are very large reserves from here and I urge the Ministry of Finance to really stay awake and seriously monitor and analyze the sector, because it is growing, it is prosperous and there is definitely a reserve for the state's income," he explained.

 

     The member of the Seimas mentioned that he does not think that the systems in Poland and Lithuania are not worth comparing with each other, since they are very similar and unified.

 

     "When I remember, the difference is perhaps in the legal concept itself, but in Lithuania it is possible to withdraw the minimum amount that can be seen there. This is subject to various legal nuances, but the essence, as far as I know, does not change," he said.

 

     "Finance ministries are well aware of those systems and they are maximally unified," he mentioned.

 

     Z. Buivydas: Lithuania is reducing its competition with carriers from other European countries

 

     At that time, the general secretary of the Lithuanian national association of car carriers "Linava" Zenonas Buivydas believes that such a system existing in both countries reduces competition compared to the carriers of other European countries. Also, he said, the ratio system in place makes the transport sector unique as it has a higher minimum monthly wage (MMW) than any other sector.

 

     "In short, when truck drivers are paid an exceptionally higher MMA than all other workers in the country, Lithuania is less its competition with the carriers of other European countries, where the situation in this matter is more flexible. We have always advocated that the coefficient system should be revised and destroyed, because the transport sector cannot be the exclusive sector where a higher MMA is exclusively set," he said to Elta.

 

     "Regarding Lithuania, it is important to emphasize that as MMA increases in our country, the remuneration paid to truck drivers for their important work in transporting goods also increases.

 

From 2024 January MMA will increase again - this time to EUR 924, excluding taxes. This means that the salary of a heavy truck driver will also increase, because his salary consists of MMA and is additionally indexed after applying the aforementioned coefficient. In other words, from January, truck drivers working in Lithuanian companies will receive the minimum wage, which will reach EUR 1,524.60 before taxes. At the moment, the minimum wage in the transport and logistics sector is 1,369.20 euros, after applying the aforementioned coefficient," he explained.

 

     Also, according to him, the models of Lithuania and Poland are very similar, although drivers in the neighboring country are still paid more. However, according to him, such similarity will mean huge costs in transport costs, as systems will be adapted and wages will be raised depending on factors in both countries.

 

     "Neither the Polish nor the Lithuanian model is perfect, and one of them cannot be considered more appropriate or better. "Both of them bring huge costs to transport companies, because it is likely that the Polish neighbors will also raise the fixed wage and will not allow it to remain for a long time," he said.

 

     "The only difference is that, at least for now, the amount paid to the driver in Lithuania is somewhat lower than in Poland," he added."

 

Why is the amount paid to the driver in Lithuania somewhat lower than in Poland?