Romanian Ikea driver goes to court demanding millions in Danish salary

Case with a German precedent:

It is the law firm Bjørst and the solicitor Christian Riewe that have brought legal action against BRING Trucking Slovakia on behalf of the haulier Emilian Tudor Jetzi. This includes a claim for payment in arrears of the disparity between Slovakian and Danish salaries for a period of five years, corresponding to a total amount of DKK 1.8 million.

The case is based upon breaches of Danish contract law and breaches of EU regulation. And for anyone familiar with the haulage industry, this case has a well-known precedent, namely the so-called Heiko Koelzsch case, in which the German haulier Heiko Koelzch won a case in the European Court of Justice claiming the right to be paid a German salary on the basis that he first and foremost operated and worked in Germany despite the fact that he was contracted to work according to legislation and regulations applicable in Luxembourg and furthermore on the grounds that he had been defrauded of a German salary.

3F Transport has provided assistance to the Romanian haulier on the basis that he is a member of SLT, which is a Romanian hauliers’ union with which 3F Transport cooperates via the European Transport Workers' Federation. On the basis of this cooperation, unions assist one another both by providing information concerning employers and by offering support in cases of underpayment of salary.

Can a haulage contractor transporting furniture for Ikea in Scandinavia get away with paying a Slovakian salary to its Romanian hauliers despite the fact that they exclusively operate in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland and at no time transport goods within Slovakia or Romania?

The Copenhagen City Court must now reach a decision on this matter, together with a demand for payment in arrears amounting to DKK 1.8 million. The case also concerns a series of breaches of both Danish legislation and EU regulations.

This case comes in the wake of a television programme screened in March, in which the BBC revealed that Romanian hauliers are transporting furniture in Scandinavia for Ikea for a sub-standard salary.

Haulier brings test case concerning fair transport

The Romanian haulier, Emilian Tudor Jetzi, has brought a case against Ikea’s haulage supplier, Bring Trucking. The Romanian truck driver is supported by the Romanian haulage union SLT together with 3F Transport, both of which wish to establish whether EU regulations can ensure fair transport.

In addition to payment in arrears, the haulier and the two unions wish to settle the matter of whether it is legal for Eastern European hauliers to work in Scandinavia on a permanent basis in return for Eastern European salaries.

- It is unequivocally our assessment that the Romanian haulier in question has been on secondment in Denmark, and accordingly, is entitled to be paid a salary at a Danish level and to be given a Danish contract. Among other reasons, we have brought this case on the basis of the EU secondment directive and the principle that employees should be paid the same salary for the same work in the same country, says Jan Villadsen, general secretary of 3F Transport.

Employer: We have no knowledge of this

Bring Trucking is a state-owned Norwegian firm, and the trade journal Fagbladet 3F has asked the Norwegian owners to comment on the case. This request for comment was submitted to Bring Trucking on the morning of Friday 19th May by 3F’s solicitor. This was the response:

- Neither the Norwegian Postal Service nor Bring Trucking is aware of any such case. We therefore have no comment to make on the matter, says John Eckhoff, public relations officer at the Norwegian Postal Service.

Nor did he offer any response on the matter of how many Romanian hauliers are employed to transport goods for Ikea and other customers in Scandinavia.

Emilian Tudor Jetzi was formally employed by the company’s subsidiary in Slovakia on a Slovakian contract, according to the terms of which he was paid a salary of barely DKK 3000 a month plus a tax-free mileage allowance. However, Emilian Tudor Jetzi states that he at no time operated haulage in Slovakia:

- In the six years I was employed at the company we never once transported goods in Slovakia. The only time I was in Slovakia was when we were transported by minibus from our homes in Romania to Slovakia, from where other minibuses transported me on to Denmark, where my truck was waiting for me at Bring Trucking’s office and depot at Kastrup, explains Emilian Tudor Jetzi.