The ministry did not allow the importation of 15 thousand. truckers: carriers post millionaire losses, talk about bankruptcies

Permits paid for third-country nationals to come to work in Lithuania alone cost almost 2 million. euro, said the press release.

And this is only a small part of the losses, since most of them consist of canceled orders, suspended activities, breach of contractual obligations, fines, delays in banks to pay creditors.

Almost two months have passed since the 11,600 annual quota limit ended this year, companies are awaiting a final decision, although they have informed the authorities of the expiration of the quotas a few months ago.

According to Zenonas Buivydas, general secretary of the Lithuanian National Association of Road Transporters Linava, yesterday he learned of the response sent by the Ministry of Social Security and Labor (SOCMIN) to business organizations, which refuses to allocate the 15 thousand requested. quotas, representatives of transport companies were shocked.

“It is a deliberate business interruption because companies cannot work without employees. The Seimas Economic Committee on May 19 recommended that additional quotas be assigned to carriers, as their annual limit had expired in less than six months. The ministry was then tasked with making only the final decision, but it is unlikely to be. Each day delayed for carriers is an additional loss.

This is especially opposed by the Deputy Minister of Social Security and Labor, Vytautas Šilinskas, who does not listen to commercial arguments, ignores some organizations that represent transporters, ”says Z. Buivydas.

According to him, the additional allocation of quotas is also supported by the Employment Service, which admits that it will not be able to meet such a need, as there are only 1,600 people in Lithuania who could work as international transport drivers, and only about 200 would like to work. . This position was also expressed by this institution at the meeting of said Economic Committee, when a working group created by the Committee addressed the issue of fees, which is important for carriers.

In addition, quotas for workers in absent professions can be reviewed once a year if there is a shortage. This is foreseen both in the legislation and in last year’s SOCMIN report.

According to the vice president of the Vytas Bučinskas association, due to late fees, carriers are forced to stop more and more work, postpone orders, delay their implementation, and therefore have to pay huge interest for arrears, according with contractual obligations to customers.

“All of this is turning into a growing loss of tens of millions of euros for companies, which is only increasing every day. Smaller and smaller operators can no longer meet their creditors’ liabilities to banks without receiving income, which also puts them at risk of penalties and interest. The position and backwardness of the Ministry of Social Security and Labor is not understood by the trucking community. Especially since this institution does not have a business, it is not so familiar with its details, so such solutions seem at least strange to little ones. It’s like a deliberate push by companies towards ever greater losses and smaller companies out of business, “he says.

In addition, according to him, companies lack the competence of ministry representatives to resolve issues important to the country’s economy and transportation sector, and a clear state strategy is lacking.

When there is a critical shortage of suitably qualified employees, in this case internationally qualified truck drivers, according to V. Bučinskas, the business simply cannot function. More and more companies are returning home with tugboats from abroad and are no longer shipping with new cargo because they do not have the capacity to do so. Such cases are only increasing.

Z. Buivydas alleges that the representatives of the transportation sector do not understand how quotas can be applied to the representatives of this deficient profession.

“In Lithuania, quotas should not be applied at all, because there is a constant shortage of professional and internationally qualified truck drivers. Therefore, it is absurd to impose quotas on workers of the disappeared profession, who are in short supply throughout Europe. For example, even the UK states that it also has a critical shortage of long-distance drivers, ”says Z. Buivydas.