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ITF seeks driver repatriation

22nd October 1998
Page 10
Page 10, 22nd October 1998 — ITF seeks driver repatriation
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• Union leaders are asking the governments of Eastern European countries to repatriate thousands of drivers who have been stranded in western Europe following the collapse of the Russian economy.

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) planned to bring up the issue at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which held its road transport group meeting in Geneva this week.

The ITF believes that up to 1,500 Eastern European drivers are stranded in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with up to 2,000 in France, 5,000 in Germany and 1,800 in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Red Cross is providing food and shelter for some drivers in the Netherlands and Germany.

The ITF says these drivers have been "effectively exiled" and many are destitute because their employers have told them to stay in Western Europe until they find return loads. They have been stranded, some of them for up to two months, because western producers are not willing to export to Eastern Europe For Fear of being unpaid. A number of major hauliers have left their drivers stranded, according to the ITF, including the Russian giant Sovtransavto, and German-owned Willi Betz which has bought SOMAT, the 4,000-truck company previously owned by the Bulgarian Government.


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