Fünf Jahre Mindestlohn : eine kritische Analyse der Durchsetzung des Mindestlohnes in der Transportbranche

Abstract

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to give an overview of the implementation of the minimum wage in the transport sector five years after the introduction of the minimum wage. In collaboration with R V Insurance, KRAVAG-LOGISTIC and the Institute for logistics law & risk management, this work is intended to close research gaps in the still slender literature and provide recommendations for action for companies, associations and legislators. The focus is on the strictness of monitoring of foreign transport companies in Germany and the resulting distortions in competition in the German transport sector. To this end, in addition to extensive literature and press research, several wide-ranging interviews were conducted with experts from the industry. Overall, a comparison of my empirical enquiries with my theoretical findings shows that Eastern European freight forwarders enjoy a competitive advantage on German roads due to blatant differences in minimum wages in the European Union. In this way, nationwide breaches of the minimum wage law are being tolerated. Overall this has resulted in very interesting and meaningful outcomes. So, for example, a wage advantage of almost 100.000.000 a a year for foreign freight forwarders in German cabotage traffic or the fact that a Polish truck that operates cabotage in Germany would be able to drive about 180.000 kilometres without getting in a minimum wage control. But thata s just a small sample of all results. Five years after its introduction, the minimum wage law is still a much discussed and controversial topic in the transport industry. Even beyond the controls and competitive advantages of Eastern European freight forwarders, it is confronted with several problems, such as general contractor liability and extensive documentation obligations. You notice the problems in connection with the minimum wage law go far beyond the mere payment of the minimum wage. So ita s worth taking a look at this bachelor thesis in order on the one hand to gain some possible insights from my treatment of a hypothesis which has not yet been discussed in the literature in such a way, and on the other to get a completely new view on the minimum wage law in the German transport industry.