Charleroi’s correctional court ruled in the case between the federal public prosecutor and the companies of the Michel Logistics group and six people, including Didier Michel himself. The indictment of social dumping was accepted, but the other charges were rejected. The company has to repay 1.8 million euros to the National Social Security Office, which corresponds to the contributions paid at the time, and seizures were also pronounced, but the judge did not impose a prison sentence and did not impose a fine.
The core of the case goes back to the opening of the European Union for 8, and then 10 countries in Central Europe. In order to cope with the competition, the Michel Logistics group had set up a company with the name Milo Slovak Road in November 2008 in Slovakia. The UBT-FGTB trade union had this company in sight since the publication of his ‘Zwartboek’ about social dumping in 2017 and two years later the social inspection joined the case. The conclusion was that drivers of Milo Slovak Road were employed in Belgium and that Michel Logistics was therefore guilty of social dumping by using drivers who were seconded in Belgium, but had no access to Belgian social protection.
The federal public prosecutor also continued Michel Logistics for human trafficking, criminal organization and forgery, and demanded fines and forfeiture against the suspects. The correctional court spoke free of the indictment of human trafficking, but recognized the company Transports Fernand Michel, Didier Michel and his wife guilty of social dumping, whereby the ruling was suspended.
Not satisfied
This statement does not satisfy the socialist trade union at all. Frank Moreels, chairman of the UBT-FGTB, is of the opinion that a ruling without a sanction is not a judicial decision, but “an invitation to all unfair carriers to continue their dumping practices, with the reassuring certainty that there is no risk of sanctions. It is therefore incomprehensible that a court of facts, but those who are proven to be proven, but that is proven, but that is proven, but the responsible person proven, but that is responsible for proven, but The trade union even believes that, in addition to automatic and stricter fines, professional bans must also be imposed when there is social dumping.
At Michel Logistics the tone is very different. “We have been fully acquitted of 80 % of the accusations that had been introduced against us,” explains Didier Michel. “That is a huge relief, because all those years we have lived with a millstone around our neck. The most important thing is that our credibility has not been affected by our customers and that we can therefore continue to maintain hundreds of families in Belgium.”
