In one of his Facebook posts, Udo Skopeck addressed a polarizing topic. At least for us BKF members. The post is linked here and should be readable even without a Facebook account. (Udo, it’s time for your own blog!).
As can be read in the comments, there are many so-called “pub slogans” present. Among them is also the claim that drivers do not have to unload their trucks.
This is not true; I already explained this in my post about the loading and unloading ban .
But abroad…
There are also some comments stating that there is a legal ban for truck drivers in Spain and Portugal to load and unload their trucks, and the question of why this cannot be achieved in Germany or even across Europe.
The answer to the question is actually quite simple and has been repeatedly mentioned whenever a topic arises that can improve our job: The driver himself is to blame.
But wait… Loading and unloading ban in Spain and Portugal?
Yes, exactly. In Spain and Portugal, the trade unions have succeeded in legally anchoring a loading and unloading ban for drivers. Note well: the trade unions. That is where the German driver has an allergy.
However, the ban does not apply in principle, as it depends on what is being transported.
The following are not covered by the ban:
- Moves and furniture transports
- Transports to self-storage facilities
- Animal transports
- Fuel transports
- Tipper trucks & vehicles with unloading equipment (crane, lift platform, etc.)
- Parcel services & light parcel distribution
- In certain hazardous goods cases, if the driver is explicitly trained for it and it is indispensable that the driver must unload
Exact details vary by country but are very similar. The fact is: For goods where it is not necessary for the driver to unload, the recipient must do so. And this regulation applies only within Spain and Portugal. Just so no rumors get started.
Why we can’t achieve this in Germany
Well, the answer to the question is easy: Because the driver does not want it. More precisely: He wants it, but he just doesn’t want to do anything to make the law happen. Because for that, he would have to leave his comfort zone and take action himself.
The eternal complainers
I have already written in so many posts and comments why drivers from neighboring countries manage to achieve this.
Be it Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, or the Scandinavian countries. They all have one thing in common: The drivers are organized there. In appropriate trade unions. And with this level of organization came something that is missing here in Germany: a collective agreement. Or, more fitting for Germany: a generally binding tariff agreement.
But for that, it would be necessary to first organize oneself in a trade union. And no, I cannot stand the excuse that there is no drivers’ trade union either, because the attempt to found or establish one has failed.
This was not least due to the low willingness of the board to ring the bell here and there.
There will also be no Messiah who turns water into beer and distributes bread among the poor.
One must take action oneself, come together with other drivers, and demand what one wants to change. Because only then will one get what one wants. And perhaps then also the loading and unloading ban as in Spain and Portugal.
§ 412 HGB
This can hardly be explained enough, although with a bit of imagination one can figure out what it is supposed to say.
The §412 HGB regulates, as is well known, which tasks the consignor of goods must perform. And as I also wrote in the post about loading and unloading , it does not state how they must do it. So it is not stated that the consignor cannot make this a condition for a transport order.
Of course, goods are also transported in Germany; there the driver cannot unload himself. Steel coils, for example, or anything where a forklift is required.
But just a “few” pallets with an electric ant on the truck and then down again at the recipient belongs to our job.
Sure, there are limits. And those are where I as a driver have to remove the film, stick some labels on the goods, and then store them in high-bay racking. That no longer counts among my tasks; that is merely cost-saving for the recipient.
This does not have to be. And here it counts: If you go along with it… Your own fault.
This can also be regulated differently. But it is not desired. And that by the driver. Because he would rather sit on the sofa with his smartphone, boasting about how great he can negotiate his conditions himself. But exactly the same driver complains on Sundays about how terrible the job is and that the “government” does nothing about it, although they should.
Wrong. Because YOU are the one who has to do something about it. Not the others. YOU. Together with other drivers. Then you will also achieve something.
