Protesting Polish truck drivers say EU policy is driving down pay

A weekslong protest by Polish truck drivers and farmers escalated this week.

These workers began blocking Medyka, a key border crossing between Ukraine and Poland, on Monday, Reuters reported. This is the fourth crossing that Polish truck drivers are blocking since they began their protest on Nov. 6. 

The chief complaint of these Polish workers is that Ukrainian carriers are now able to more freely access the European Union freight market. 

Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian fleets had to purchase permits to operate in the EU. The EU waived that requirement starting last year to bring economic relief to Ukraine, as Brussels, Belgium-based Euronews reported.

Now, Polish drivers say Ukrainian carriers are undercutting them and making it impossible to compete, according to Notes from Poland and the Kyiv Independent. Ukrainian carriers have lower operating costs, in part because they do not have to comply with EU climate regulations. 

Another complaint of these drivers comes from the long lines at these border crossings. Reuters and Notes from Poland both reported that Ukraine requires Polish drivers to join an electronic queuing system to leave Ukraine, while Ukrainian drivers are allowed to wait at home for their turn to exit the country. 

Ukrainian officials slammed these protests. Volodymyr Balin, vice president of the Association of International Car Carriers of Ukraine, told the Kyiv Independent that he’s “categorically against the fact that we are undermining local businesses in Poland.”

Humanitarian aid may be caught in protest

As of Monday, the wait to cross through Medyka stood at 91 hours, Reuters reported. 

It’s a long wait, but it’s not unusual since the war started. According to a FreightWaves email interview with a spokesman for the International Road Transport Union (IRU), a Geneva-based world transport organization, wait times at the Polish-Ukrainian border have been unusually long.

“[C]ustoms clearance is also taking significantly more time than prior to the war due to additional inspections to ensure compliance with economic and trade sanctions,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

These protests also appeared to entangle some humanitarian aid heading to Ukraine.

“The protest is only targeting ordinary transports, not humanitarian aid,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “However, some trucks with humanitarian aid are inevitably getting caught in jams and are therefore also impacted.”

Sebastian Stodolak, vice president of a Warsaw-based think tank, told the Kyiv Indepedent that he doubts Polish leaders will monitor this situation closely — despite the disruption it may cause people in Ukraine and Poland.

“Polish politicians are too busy creating a new government to focus on this issue particularly closely. Important decisions will probably be made in December,” Stodolak said.

‘No intention of giving up’

A protest by Polish truckers has the potential to reverberate through the entire EU. According to the IRU, Polish carriers haul a whopping one-fifth of the EU’s total road freight volume.

However, drivers say the outgoing Polish government and the incoming leadership, which appears to be a coalition of pro-EU groups, aren’t concerned with their problems. 

“There are no constructive talks, nobody wants to meet with us,” Jacek Sokol of the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers, referring to the government, told Reuters. 

Poland’s infrastructure ministry told Reuters it’s asked Ukraine to allow empty trucks to be excluded from the electronic queuing system at certain crossings. The ministry also asked an EU commissioner “to establish a joint committee to [analyze] the effects of lifting the requirement to have permits in the bloc’s transport market,” Reuters reported.

Tomasz Borkowski, who leads a Polish union called the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers, told Reuters he would like the “burdensome” protest to end, but that aims around wait times and border crossing requirements would first need to be met. 

“We have no intention of giving up and we will stand until we get our terms,” Borkowski said.

This story is developing. Email [email protected] with your thoughts.