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Latvian
drivers worked under sub-standard conditions: Latvian truck drivers have worked for Lidl in Sweden under conditions far below minimum regulations and standards. A former driver for Lidl's Finnish transport contractor has been interviewed by Sweden's leading daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. According to the driver, the Latvian workers were engaged under Latvian agreement levels and received Latvian wages. These are very much below Swedish standards. The Lidl contractor is also suspected for having violated rules on working time and obligatory rest periods for its Latvian drivers. The Finnish driver tells the Stockholm newspaper that he stopped working for the company when it did not pay his wages properly, and as the truck he drove was a wreck. The German hard discounter has been taken to court by a Swedish transport company, for violating European legislation. The transport firm Hallands Åkeriföretag says that Lidl has used Finnish and German companies for regular domestic transports in Sweden, which is not allowed under European rules. This Lidl case underlines the urgent need to revise the proposed European Union services directive, which in its present form would open the doors for a widespread social dumping. .
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