Wages, working conditions and living conditions are central to ensuring decent work and safe operations in road transport. The ILO Guidelines highlight that these factors are closely interconnected and directly influence both worker wellbeing and road safety outcomes, and they call for remuneration systems that pay a fair living wage and enough to cover operational costs without having to speed or skip rest to make a living. Systemic features of the sector – fragmented supply chains, cost pressures and non-standard employment arrangements – make safe, fair and stable remuneration, reasonable working hours and adequate rest hard to secure. Drivers face income insecurity and below cost recovery payments (where income falls short of the real costs of running and maintaining a vehicle safely), long periods away from home and limited access to safe sanitation and rest facilities, all of which can negatively impact health, safety and quality of life. Working and living conditions, including access to sanitation, secure parking and rest areas, are particularly important. Where these conditions are inadequate or poorly managed, they lead to fatigue, chronic health problems, and heightened security risks, including cargo theft, and violence and harassment.
WAGE STRUCTURES
Pay systems based on distance travelled, number of loads delivered, trips or time spent routinely fail to account for waiting time, loading and unloading, border delays, traffic congestion or mandatory rest periods. Where pay is directly linked to output rather than time worked, drivers are pressured to exceed legal driving hours, skip rest breaks or drive unsafely to earn a living wage. Drivers work until they reach a wage they can survive on. For those engaged in NSFE, that means driving faster or for longer hours, without breaks, adequate training or equipment, when ill or injured, in heavy traffic, and during bad or extreme weather. The ILO Guidelines state that, “pressure from supply chain entities can be an underlying cause of transport workers adopting riskier and unsafe driving practices”. Research shows that a 1% increase in driver pay reduces accidents by between 1 and 3%. Pay therefore is the lever. Setting safe rates that allows for a legal wage ensures safer roads – which makes rate-setting a road safety decision, not only a cost one. These risks amplify in subcontracted or cross-border operations, where payment arrangements vary and are difficult for client companies to monitor. Piece-rate or performance-based pay also obscure underpayment: total earnings may appear adequate while effective hourly rates fall below legal or collectively agreed standards. Wages are sometimes supplemented or replaced by daily allowances, per diems, bonuses or reimbursements for costs such as fuel, accommodation or equipment. Using such payments to inflate earnings or substitute wages undermines minimum wage compliance, reduces social security contributions, and limits access to benefits such as pensions, sick pay, and unemployment protection.
WITHHOLDING PAY
Irregular payment of wages, delayed payments, and the withholding of pay are persistent risks in road transport supply chains. Drivers experience late or unpredictable wage payments due to cash-flow pressures within subcontracting chains, disputes over completed work, or unilateral deductions for fuel, vehicle damage, or administrative costs. Final wages are withheld when workers leave employment, particularly for drivers in NSFE. These practices create acute financial hardship, increase drivers’ dependence on employers or intermediaries, and deter them from raising concerns or reporting abuses. Withheld wages are an indicator of forced labour under ILO standards and have an adverse human rights impact under the OECD Guidelines.
For more on remuneration and forced labour, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.
WORKING AND LIVING CONDITIONS
The working and living conditions of long-haul truck drivers are a severe and overlooked human rights crisis in global supply chains. Subcontracting, inadequate renumeration and a lack of proper roadside infrastructure force many drivers to live in their truck cabins for weeks or months at a time, frequently without access to clean water, climate control, or basic sanitation facilities. This can be exacerbated at client-controlled loading sites, where drivers are denied access to on-site toilets and rest facilities, forcing them into degrading hygiene practices to maintain delivery schedules. Deductions for fuel, insurance, and maintenance can lead to negative wages – a primary indicator of debt bondage, where a driver effectively owes the company money for a week’s work, trapping them in a cycle of exploitation. Access to safe and clean drinking water is an established human right. A lack of accessible roadside infrastructure and restrictive policies and practices at customer sites undermine the realisation of this right. When client companies, warehouse or port operators deny drivers access to on-site water and sanitation, they directly contribute to dehydration – a dangerous practice where drivers limit fluid intake to avoid needing non-existent or unsafe restrooms. The effects are severe physical and cognitive impairment: reduced concentration, slower reaction times, and brain fog comparable to driving under the influence of alcohol. Chronic dehydration also causes long-term damage including kidney stones, urinary tract infections and permanent renal dysfunction.
For more on access to sanitation facilities, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.
WORKFORCE CHALLENGES
Human rights risks begin at recruitment where many drivers are illegally charged fees and become indebted to the employer or recruitment agency to begin employment. This is often the first indication of human trafficking, forced labour or labour exploitation. According to the ILO’s General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fees and related costs, no recruitment fees or related costs should be charged to, or otherwise be borne by, workers or jobseekers. Despite these protective measures, cross-border drivers pay high recruitment fees, face unexpected payments on arrival in their country of work, and are misled about their terms and conditions. Recruiting young workers into trucking presents specific risks. They are disproportionately recruited into the sector through temporary, agency or trainee arrangements, with limited transparency about pay, working hours or conditions. Recruitment practices may involve misleading information about earnings or job security, or impose financial pressure through training fees, licence costs or equipment charges. These increase vulnerability to debt, dependency and acceptance of unsafe or unlawful working conditions, particularly where young workers lack experience or knowledge of their rights. For young workers, entering the sector under such exploitative conditions can have a severe impact on their long-term mental health. It can lead to early career burnout, constant anxiety and the normalisation of workplace stress. Young drivers also face gaps in training, supervision, and safety and health protections, especially in fragmented or subcontracted transport operations. Pressure to meet delivery schedules, combined with fear of losing work or future opportunities, discourages young drivers from raising concerns or refusing unsafe work. Where access to trade union representation is weak or absent, these risks remain hidden from client companies and are difficult to address through standard compliance mechanisms. For companies, ineffective oversight of recruitment leaves them exposed to safety risks, legal liability and reputational harm – which is why worker-centred HREDD must cover the entire recruitment-to-employment pathway. These risks have produced a shortage of decent work and a downward spiral in pay, conditions and labour protections. The consequence is a profound lack of diversity, with women and young people remaining significantly underrepresented, and an industry that is unsafe, unsustainable and non-inclusive.
For more on workforce challenges, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.