Girteka’s driver is about the “order” in the company: more orders, but reduced wages

When the driver claims that the company has cut the salary, despite saying there is more work and also fuel deductions, Girteka denies such speeches and claims that the daily allowance was paid instead of the salary, which is a temporary solution. Also, according to the company, shipping prices fell due to the coronavirus, orders fell. The company also denied talking about fuel deductibles.

From per diem to cash deductions for fuel

Driver Algis (name changed, person known to the publisher) contacted Delfi during a trip. He said he has been away for some time and is transporting goods between the main European countries.

He told Delfi more details about his work, but asked his employer not to reveal it in order to remain anonymous.

The man started the conversation with reducing the company’s driver wages, which was discussed extensively in the press just over a couple of weeks ago, when Girteka Logistics announced that it was reducing daily allowances for drivers.

“They no longer pay me 66 euros a day, but 53 euros, just the fact that today we have much more work than before the coronavirus crisis.”

I have calculated that due to such a salary reduction, I will receive around 400 euros less per month. For 50 euros a day I can sit and work in Lithuania, for whom I have to sit here in the cabin, get nervous, not sleep, hurry, “said the driver, adding that, in general, the system works in such a way that Drivers are normally transferred to bank accounts. the remaining money is paid for the trip, the daily allowance is calculated.

“If you work abroad for a whole month, it costs 1980 Eur (30 days * 66 Eur per day), so if we calculate according to the new rate: 53 Eur, I get 1590 Eur, which is 400 Eur less. But they still charge us for fuel, “said Algis.

When asked what this means, he explained that almost every hundreds of euros on a return trip are deducted from salary due to alleged mismatches in mileage and fuel consumption.

“But I don’t drink it, and when we come back, they take 300-400 euros from our wages, since they shoot them in the head.”

The kilometers are said to not match the amount of fuel. But it must be understood that the roads are closed, repaired, not always the most direct route from point A to point B. Furthermore, the cars have GPS, they see everything for themselves, “said the angry man.

Speaking about the salary calculation based on the publication subsidy, he assured that the company often formulates the daily subsidy in a way that is convenient for him, but not necessarily according to the countries in which the person worked and was.

“They claim that you were in Poland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, where the daily allowance is lower, even though you are not there,” he said.

Work harder than before

The driver also said that when he returns from a trip to the company, he will not hand over the car to the mechanic and will not receive the remaining salary if he does not sign the documents to go on vacation without voluntarily paying.

“Once you sign, you don’t have to pay them a salary until you go back on the trips,” he explained.

Finally, Algis assured that there are more jobs in the company today than before.

“Drivers are accepted and accepted. Both Kazakhs and Kyrgyz people work. “We are all overweight, no one pays us for parking, it is where you want it, stay there, avoid stealing diesel and goods,” he said.

The driver also added that order prices have also increased today.

“They receive more money, more orders, but they reduce our wages.

There are scams here, and they have money, they buy new cars, they accept employees. What is the crisis here? “Girteka doesn’t really have it, he has a lot of work,” he said openly.

When asked why the man is still working for the company today, he said he was considering quitting the job.

“I only worked there because I worked for a few months and sat at home, I had free time for the rest, but now I will not work for that kind of money,” said Algis.

Girteka: transport prices are falling, the market has a third less cargo

Kristian Kaas Mortensen, Director of Strategic Alliances at Girteka Logistics, told Delfi that today the company, as well as the global economy and companies, is feeling the strong impact of the crisis, as well as falling volumes and shipping prices. .

“In terms of transportation prices, at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, when the market fell sharply in certain directions, we had applied a short-term premium that lasted two weeks.”

However, the start of the economic crisis has led to two other market factors: the decrease in transport volumes in Europe due to the closure of plants and the decrease in shipments of non-essential goods, and increased competition, freeing up the carrier’s capacity and lowering prices. The market is currently 30 percent. less freight, and the drop in transportation prices is 10-12 percent, “said the company representative, adding that a temporary reduction in drivers’ daily allowances is one of the savings measures applied by the company today.

Mortensen, as Delfi previously commented, said the company did not cut drivers’ wages.

“For both office workers and drivers, we have temporarily reduced the daily allowance rate to the limit set by law.

“Girteka Logistics has been paying daily allowances higher than the market for some time, and due to the current economic situation, we had to make temporary changes,” he said.

The information was denied

A company representative also responded to statements made by the driver.

He denied information that drivers are allegedly charged for excessive fuel use when they return from a trip, and when asked if the daily allowance is always calculated according to the countries the driver actually visited, he explained that this Automatically calculated by IT systems.

“Our 14,000. Drivers travel throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the eastern countries. The truck’s computer systems record every kilometer of travel, ensuring that we constantly see the location of all 7,400 trucks, how fast it travels, with what frequency stops, stops or rests when it reaches the cargo delivery location etc.

The systems automatically calculate how long and in which countries the tractor has been. Based on these records, wages and daily allowances are calculated according to the countries where they really were, which correspond to the rates prescribed by law and contracts, “he said.

When asked if the driver should always sign the mechanic when he returns from the trip and wants to deliver the car, the following unpaid license representative gave the following response:

“Every driver, like any office or warehouse employee, has the right to take paid and unpaid annual vacations, as required by law.”

Finally, when asked if the company was looking for new drivers in what they said was a difficult situation with the coronavirus today, it was explained that certain positions were being sought on a regular basis.

“As one of the largest employers in Lithuania, we constantly have certain vacancies.

Last year 3,000 people joined our team. drivers, 70% of whom – According to colleagues’ recommendations. We are currently reviewing our growth plans and focusing on our key goals of business continuity and maintaining existing jobs, ”responses said.

Cuzanauskas: there is a total disaster in the transport sector

When asked about the problems in the transport sector, Audrius Cuzanauskas, the head of the union alliance, said that they were abundant here and mentioned that they were related to both the calculation of wages and other issues.

“Drivers are also charged money for fuel.

The level of arbitrariness of the managers is such that if the driver speaks to the manager in a high tone, the manager has the right to impose a fine of 300 Eur. This is the case in almost all transport companies ”, gave an example .

A. Cuzanauskas also supported the Algis driver and confirmed that today there is more transport, and their prices have increased.

“The Dutch and Belgian unions inform us that the need for transport has increased.

In some countries, hours of work have even been extended to allow drivers to transport and insure both the goods they need and medications and food. The second, in the case of countries like Italy, France, Spain, transport rates have increased two to three times there, “he said, assuring that some companies are simply using the pandemic situation to say that transport is decreasing today . drivers to reduce wages.

When asked if it could be that the driver’s allowances in some companies could be calculated not based on the countries where the driver was located, but based on where the rate was lower, he assured that such a possibility was really probable.

“In some places it counts, I’ll say ugly, from a lamp.

Drivers travel for tenure, travel for two, three months, but until they return, they are not fully aware of how the manager will decide to pay. Each time the salary is calculated in a completely different way and it does not matter that there is an employment contract.

There is a total disaster ”, summarized A. Cuzanauskas.