Hungarian lorry drivers win claim for equal pay with Dutch

Ten Hungarian lorry drivers who took legal action against a Dutch transport company for not paying them the same as Dutch workers have won their case, news agency ANP reports.

Judges in Den Bosch ruled on Thursday the drivers should be paid according to the official Dutch pay and conditions agreement rather than the much lower Hungarian pay scale.

They all worked for Erp-based transport company Van den Bosch whose clients include DSM, Unilever and Cargill.

The FNV trade union, which supported the men, said the drivers are flown from Hungary to Eindhoven airport. They then travel to Erp to pick up their lorry and spend the next three weeks driving in the Netherlands and abroad.

Van den Bosch claims their work in the Netherlands is minimal and they are rightly paid according to Hungarian norms. The union says their Hungarian subsidiary employer is a letter-box firm and everything, including the job interviews, took place in Erp.

The FNV has welcomed the ruling and says the drivers are entitled to an estimated €1m in back pay between them, ANP says.

It now aims to take more transport companies with foreign contractors to court over pay.