Germany: Bundesrat presents bill to stop excessive use of “service contracts” (Werkverträge)

The representatives of five Länder run by the social-democratic and green parties presented, on Friday, September 20, a bill to “combat excessive use of service contract and prevent the bypass of statutory requirements imposed by labor law.”  Backed by the representatives of several conservative Länder, the bill aims to limit these subcontracting contracts which, now that the temporary sector has minimum wage and is supervised by more severe regulations, are increasingly used to lower cost and make production rhythms more flexible.  Several big employers’ organizations condemn this initiative especially since, with the likelihood of a more left-wing government coalition than before, its chances of being adopted are high.  (Ref.  130566)
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Major political consensus behind this text. In the nervousness of the last days of the German election campaign, the bill presented by the representatives of Low-Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, designed to limit and supervise appeal to “service contracts,” went unnoticed. Yet, the text is at the center of the debate on the increase of social dumping and the ways to stop it. It will be one of the first the new Federal Assembly...

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