During a hearing at the European Parliament on November 5, 2008, the Chairman of the Standing Committee Building of the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers (EFBWW), John Kerstens, asked for a European directive providing for liability of general contractors to fight against social fraud. The hearing took place before the European Parliament's Commission for Employment and Social Affairs which should draw a report on the social liability of general contractors in subcontracting chains. (Ref. 080863)
“Increasingly, labor inspectorates and
trade unions are discovering general contractors using complex forms of
subcontracting to commit social fraud on construction sites” the federation points
out. Thus, “long and complicated subcontracting chains enable fraudulent
operators to gain access to the sites. The general contractor hides behind the
smokescreen offered by the self-employed status of the subcontractors, who are
free to operate as they wish.” These frauds go as far as “forms of human
t
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