Hundreds of truck drivers protest poor wages, conditions

(BRUSSELS) - Some 750 truck-drivers, flanked by lorries, snarled traffic in Brussels Tuesday in a protest over declining wages and conditions as transport companies hire east Europeans on rock-bottom pay.

The European Transport Workers' Federation, which called the rally, urged European institutions and governments to agree legislation respecting the rights of professional road transport drivers.

The ETF accuses firms in western Europe of increasingly hiring non-residents on poor pay and poor conditions, the vast majority forced to cook and sleep in their lorries with many paid a mere 10 euros (13 dollars) for every 100 kilometres (60 miles) of road.

"The job is changing," said Patrice Huart, who heads a French drivers' union, the FGTE. "There are less and less French drivers because firms are taking on drivers from eastern Europe who are paid 250 euros a month, or 700 with bonuses, against 2,000 for a western European."

ETW official Robert Parillo said 3,000 truck-drivers had lost their jobs in Belgium between 2007 and 2010 due to the problem.