Securing workers' rights in subcontracting chains

The research shows the diverse strategies to use subcontracting as a business model. Companies take full advantage of the existing national and European norms and aimed at externalising risks, by extending and complicating the subcontracting chain. The research team approached selected companies and interviewed various stakeholders including labour authorities and management associations. They found hard facts and sad stories about workers that fight until today to receive their salary. In the cases of the report subcontracting practices are directly weakening the economic and normative employment conditions of the workforce: less income, less social contributions, longer working hours, worse H&S conditions, etc. Sometimes the employers even achieve to systematically hinder the social cohesion of the workers and consequently hinder collective action. The research shows how companies in these sectors use subcontracting as a strategy to increase profits in highly competitive markets, without being liable for the consequences of their actions.