Lithuania: carriers are asked to initiate the abolition of quotas for hiring drivers from third countries
Lithuanian carriers have appealed to President Gitanas Nausedas to initiate the abolition of quotas, which are intended to hire workers in shortage professions from outside the European Union. Logist.Today learned about this from a message published by the press service of the Lithuanian National Association of Motor Carriers (Linava).
The decision to appeal to the head of state was made after it was not possible to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Social Protection and Labor (MILSW), which did not appreciate the arguments of the business and decided not to allocate additional quotas this year. According to Zenon Bouvidas, Linava's general secretary, quota limits and a shortage of professional truck drivers are becoming "a bigger and bigger stumbling block for business".
"In the state, the third branch of the economy will be greatly affected - the transport and logistics sector, which brings to the state budget up to 800 million euros per year. At the moment, carriers can hire almost 30,000 truckers and blow the dust off more than 12,000 vehicles (vehicles) that are idle because there is no one to drive them. There is a critical shortage of people who can work, despite the fact that the business pays quite solid salaries to professionals in this field, which amount to 2.5 thousand euros" Zenon Bouvidas
According to the vice-president of Linava, Vitas Bučinskas, the missing quotas are one of the reasons why more and more Lithuanian carriers decide to either continue their activities in neighboring Poland, as well as in Germany, Holland, Belgium, or create subsidiaries there. “After investing money and purchasing vehicles, employers cannot guarantee that the vehicles will be used efficiently because there is an acute shortage of drivers. Therefore, they look for solutions and choose other countries. Currently, Lithuanian carriers have registered several thousand vehicles in Poland alone. Only because of such a number of trucks registered in Poland and drivers working there and other personnel of the companies, we can lose approximately 100 million euros per year or more" Vitas Buchynskas The association also draws attention to the fact that after the end of the annual quota limit for employment of workers from non-EU countries, Lithuanian companies need to solve the issue of labor market tests, which take too much time, which take from several months to six months. Workers from foreign countries do not wait so long and get a job in transport companies of other countries, for example, in Poland, where it takes one to two weeks.
"After the abolition of the quota system in Lithuania, carriers can become the business sector that will look less at foreign countries, simply to be able to continue their activities and remain one of the strongest engines of the country's economy"
Vitas Buchinskas Logist.Today reminds that, due to the lack of quotas, Lithuanian carriers could not hire more than 4,520 drivers fromcertain countries (including, but not limited to, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc.), although visas for these workers were issued and paid for by the employer in advance.