‘No thank you, Prime Minister’, Polish trucker
says to British Christmas visa offer
EURACTIV.com
with Reuters 7:51
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s
proposed three-month working visa for European truckers just isn’t a sweet
enough deal to convince 35-year-old Polish truck driver Jakub Pajka to go back
to Britain. And he’s not alone.
A
post-Brexit shortage of lorry drivers – estimated to be around 100,000 – as the
COVID-19 pandemic eases has sown chaos through British supply chains in
everything from food to fuel has raised the spectre of disruptions and price
rises in the run-up to Christmas.
Long queues and fuel rationing as Britain faces truck
driver shortage
Lengthy
queues of vehicles snaked their way to gas stations in Britain where an acute
shortage of truck drivers has led to fuel rationing and some pumps running dry,
and prompted the government to consider issuing temporary work visas.
The British
government on Sunday announced a plan to issue temporary visas for 5,000
foreign truck drivers as a response to the acute shortfall of truck drivers
that made gas station pumps run dry in cities across the country. The visas
will expire on 24 December.
Pajka, who
quit his job in Britain as it was leaving the European Union, said three months
just wasn’t long enough for it to be worthwhile.
“No drivers
want to move for only three months just to make it easier for the British to
organise their holidays,” he said sitting behind a wheel of his red truck on a
parking lot just outside Poland’s capital Warsaw.
The
additional money couldn’t offset the struggle of moving countries, the threat
posed by migrants trying to cross the English Channel on the back of a truck or
the separation from his family, he added.
“The money
you can earn in the UK does not compensate such driver for all the dangerous
things that happen to him there,” he said pointing to the scuffles with
migrants he witnessed in ports of Calais and Dunkirk.
On a
different parking lot outside of Warsaw, Jacek Rembikowski, a 60-year old truck
driver with 25 years of experience, also said Brexit somewhat influenced his
decision to return home after working in Britain for seven years.
Despite his
thirst for adventure, and his fond memories driving from “Norway to Portugal,”
he says he now prefers to stay in Poland.
“(There
was) an uncertainty as to how we will be treated in this situation,” he said.
“Whether Brexit will shake up not only the industry but also whether drivers
will still be wanted.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário