Greek Truck Drivers Strike - Do they have a case? - 2.8.10
The Greeks truck drivers have decided to call off
their strike action with the agreement they will have talks with the
Greek Government in September about how best to move forward with the
freeing up of the Greek transport industry. The question is, does the
Greek trucking industry really need liberlisation?
First of all lets set out our understanding the
current rules are in Greece.
The number of transport licenses in Greece is limited
which means existing license holders/lorry drivers can sell their
licenses to other lorry drivers when they decide to leave the transport
industry. This means that these licenses can be traded for hundreds of
thousands of Euros.
The new rules are designed to open up the Greek
transport industry to anyone that holds a truck license.
To see if the truck drivers have a point let's look at
one of the most liberalised transport industries in Europe, the UK and
see how it compares to Greece.
Service - Good get delivered in the UK the same way
they get delivered in the UK with mainland Greece being served by a
mostly next day service and the islands 2 days. The same as the UK
Cant find what your looking for?
Try the StrikeEngine
search engine - Powered by Google Only includes the sites listed on StrikeEngine
Example Searches
StrikeEngine SEARCH ENGINE - Car Sites ONLY "Try it,
we are sure you will find what you are looking for and more!"
Custom Search
Greek Truck Drivers Strike - Do they have a case?
Price - Smaller parcels are generally cheaper to send
in Greece with larger pallets being slightly more expensive
Vehicles - The lorry fleet in the UK is much much
younger than in Greece. What does this mean? Well there is certainly
less debt in the Greek transport industry. On an environmental front,
even though older trucks are by far the most polluting, research has
suggested that the construction of any vehicles is by far the most
polluting part of its life so it could be argued that the Greek
transport industry is more eco-friendly than its more liberalised
counterparts
Wages - Wages levels between Greece and the UK not
known
Employers - The majority of Greek lorry drivers are
self employed, which must be a good thing for customers and for the
environment, owners drivers are more than likely to take better care of
their trucks than non owner drivers
Pensions - Greek truck drivers are in a much better
position than their British truck driving counterparts. They can either
sell their licenses when the retire or pass it on to the children.
Having something to pass on to your kids is becoming more and more of a
rarity in the modern Worlds with many parents leaving their children
much less than they were left by their parents
So given these facts, are customers better served in
the UK or Greece?
On a price front, the position is nearly enough
identical
On a service front, the position is nearly enough
identical, your parts might come in a nicer truck and you get tracking
on your parcel in the UK but that's about it
So, should Greece open up its transport market?
Well customers won't gain a lot, and the lorry drivers
will definitely loose out by not having a nest egg when they retire.
We are not normally for Government intervention in
anyway, but what's done is done in Greece, the only thing liberalisation
will mean is that a profession will be robbed of millions of Euros in
nest eggs with no-one benefiting. Except may the banks who will be
lending millions of Euros to multinational transport companies to buy
new trucks and employ Eastern European drivers at knock down prices and
erode the stature of what it is to be, a professional lorry driver. It
was once a respected proffesion in the UK, not any longer, the same
thing should not happen to Greece.
- Advertise your business
here, email us for details at sales[[@]]strikeengine.com