Unfair competition or " social dumping " is defined as "any practice consisting, for a State or a company, in violating, circumventing or degrading, in a more or less deliberate way, the social law in force - whether national, Community or international - in order to gain an economic advantage, particularly in terms of competitiveness "1.
This illegal practice, often perpetuated by carriers with subsidiaries or subcontractors in Eastern European countries, has a two-fold impact, not only on transport employees and managers, but also on the economy and the environment. It clearly hinders the development of the CSR approach adopted by transport operators, who are forced into an intolerable price war.
It's also questionable whether these low-cost workers have received training in eco-responsible practices, if they are aware of the technical improvements needed to reduce the emission of fine particles and other pollutants.
To step up the fight against social dumping, on February 14, 2016, the government introduced and passed an amendment to the Macron law to require foreign truck drivers working in France to be paid at least the French smic.
Despite all this, the carriers' anger is not abating, due to the ineffectiveness of controls on Eastern European carriers.
Solutions exist to facilitate the fight against unfair competition, such as TK'Blue Agency's online platform for the exchange of information and mandatory freight transport documents.
Thanks to this online service, carriers can update their social and tax documents for all their principals in a single operation, and are automatically reminded of any updates.
This means that principals can check the social and tax credentials of their transport service providers in real time, and be alerted in the event of non-compliance. They can no longer ignore whether or not they are working with companies practicing social dumping.
On April 15, Alain Vidalies, the French Secretary of State for Transport, received a report on controls in other countries. This report should make it possible to devise new control measures to limit social dumping. Let's hope that the actions decided upon will be effective!
1 http://www.glossaire-international.com/pages/tous-les-termes/dumping-social.html