Poland fines Biedronka owner PLN 525m for running a no-poach pact among hauliers

Poland's competition authority has fined Jeronimo Martins Polska, the owner of the Biedronka supermarket chain, PLN 525,535,050 for organising a no-poach arrangement among the haulage companies serving its distribution centres. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) imposed fines of PLN 571,960,550 in total on the retailer, 29 transport companies and eight individuals, according to the authority's statement of 22 September.

The authority found that the carriers agreed not to compete for drivers, with Jeronimo Martins Polska coordinating the arrangement, from June 2017 until at least February 2024, when UOKiK searched the companies. Over the years the practice may have left several thousand drivers with less favourable employment conditions, UOKiK said. The decision was submitted to the European Commission, which agreed that there had been a restriction of competition.

How the waiting period worked

A driver who had worked for one of the participating carriers needed the consent of the existing employer to move to another carrier serving the same distribution centre. Without it, the driver could not work for another company at that centre until a waiting period of several months had passed, depending on the centre. That made hiring a rival's driver "virtually uneconomical", the statement says.

UOKiK describes Jeronimo Martins Polska as the organiser, which enforced the agreed terms, acted as an intermediary in the exchange of information between carriers and decided who could enter its distribution centres, barring drivers who had changed jobs in breach of the arrangement. The retailer also benefited indirectly, the authority says, because lower pressure on drivers' wages meant lower pressure on the rates carriers charged for transport. It adds that the company's internal documents confirmed the practice could breach the law, but that the company did not stop it of its own accord.

The authority quotes the carriers' own correspondence, translated from Polish. One wrote to the retailer: "We are receiving worrying reports of drivers moving between carriers within the same distribution centre." Another, in 2022, asked for a waiting period to be imposed on a driver, arguing: "If we do not follow clearly defined rules, we will create 'unhealthy' competition between carriers." A message in 2021 complained of "a 'rat race' among drivers over who will pay more", according to the statement.

"The collusion restricted that competition: it made it more difficult for drivers to change employers and enabled undertakings to reduce pressure for wage increases," Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK, said in the statement.

Individual liability and leniency

Fines were also imposed on eight individuals directly responsible for the arrangements, owners, partners or managers of carriers including Euro Finannce, EF Transport, Trans-GP, Rolko, Solus, P.P.H.U. Zadroga, Rasz, Nowa Logistic and Sławomir Sajdak sp.j., UOKiK said. One participant, Międzynarodowy i Krajowy Przewóz Towarów Kazimierz Olszański, applied for leniency, but only after proceedings had begun and substantial evidence had been gathered, so it could not obtain immunity; its fine was halved to PLN 166,600.

No-poaching agreements are prohibited because they affect wages, an important factor in competition between undertakings, and can lead to lower pay or slower pay growth, the authority says. It points employers to its July 2024 guide, Collusion and Abuses on the Labour Market, which sets out with examples which practices may be unlawful.

Why it matters beyond Poland

The case is notable for its structure: the restriction ran through a customer that controlled site access, rather than through a direct pact among employers alone. For companies that use outsourced service providers at their own sites, the decision shows that rules on which contractor staff may work where can be treated as a competition matter, and that the site owner can carry most of the fine. Competition authorities elsewhere in the region are looking at the same territory: Türkiye's authority announced on 7 September an investigation into 37 undertakings and two associations over alleged no-poach agreements and exchanges of sensitive information in the labour market, centred on an automotive suppliers' industrial zone.