Thursday’s vote in Strasbourg showed a clear political divide, but also a growing determination among MEPs to bring order to subcontracting and labour intermediation. The report advocating an EU strategy to combat worker exploitation was backed by 332 MEPs, 209 voted against, and 33 abstained.
The EP wants tougher rules
The report adopted yesterday by the EP calls on the European Commission to present an ambitious directive on subcontracting and labour intermediaries as part of the planned Quality Jobs Act. MEPs stress that worker exploitation violates human rights and distorts fair competition between businesses.
The document states that extensive subcontracting chains can lead to blurred accountability, lower pay, deteriorating safety conditions and unstable employment. Parliament is calling, among other things, for strengthening direct employment relationships in high-risk sectors, which also include transport.
The report provides among other things.
- EU-wide licensing of labour intermediaries,
- a ban on charging fees to workers,
- joint and several liability for wages and contributions throughout the entire subcontracting chain.
Cooperation between the European Labour Authority (ELA), Europol and national authorities is also to be strengthened.
Data cited in the debate show that in 2023, 3,298 fatal workplace accidents were recorded in the European Union. At the same time, Europol warned that 86% of the most dangerous criminal networks in the EU use legal business structures to conduct operations and launder money, with logistics and construction particularly exposed.
Road transport at the centre of the dispute
In recent months, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment has analysed long and opaque subcontracting chains in the road transport sector. The report stressed that this industry is particularly vulnerable to distortions generated by multi-tier subcontracting.
As UETR (the European Road Haulers Association) and ETF (the European Transport Workers’ Federation) point out, road transport is characterised by low margins, especially in the small and medium-sized enterprise segment. In their view, multi-tier subcontracting accelerates the decline in freight rates, weakens the negotiating position of smaller companies and makes it harder to attract qualified drivers amid labour shortages.
Both organisations urged MEPs to support the report, pointing to the need to establish an EU-level legal framework, introduce price transparency and accountability in the chain, and create an effective sanctions system. In their view, abuses in labour intermediation and subcontracting foster social dumping and the circumvention of tax and social insurance rules.
DSLV: a threat to competitiveness and market freedom
The German transport association DSLV takes a very different view of Parliament’s initiative. The organisation warned against statutory restrictions on outsourcing services to specialised partners.
Frank Huster, CEO of DSLV, emphasises that “the use of subcontractors is a systemic element of logistics, yet it is sometimes deliberately stigmatised”. In his view, linking subcontracting with exploitation is not self-evident, and transport should not be treated as a sector inherently at high risk of abuse.
DSLV points out that contract logistics is highly fragmented in terms of functions and competences, and organising international supply chains requires cooperation with specialised partners for documentation, customs clearance, warehousing, transhipment or transport across different modes. In Europe, few companies are capable of providing all these services on their own.
According to the German organisation, limiting subcontracting would be a serious interference with the freedom to provide services and with competition, and could result in market concentration, job losses and higher prices for logistics services. DSLV also warns that introducing joint and several liability would require full control over global supply chains, which is impractical in practice and would generate significant administrative burdens.
The organisation notes that worker protection is already regulated by an extensive network of national and EU rules, including the Mobility Package for road transport. In its view, the key is effective enforcement of existing law, not the creation of new regulations.
What’s next for the initiative?
Parliament’s resolution is political in nature and does not directly create law. However, it obliges the European Commission to take a position. If it accepts the MEPs’ demands, it should present a draft legal act within twelve months. Otherwise, it will have to provide a detailed justification for refusing.
For the transport industry, this is a strategic moment. On the one hand, trade unions and some carrier organisations see regulation as an opportunity to curb dumping and strengthen fair competition. On the other, part of the business community warns against excessive interference in the sector’s operating models.
