The trade union IG BAU criticizes illegal practices and undeclared work on a large scale on German construction sites. In the first six months of this year alone, the financial control agency Schwarzarbeit (FKS) initiated 9,251 preliminary investigations in the main and ancillary construction trades, IG BAU announced on Tuesday. That is around a fifth more than in the same period last year (7430). IG BAU referred to figures that the Federal Ministry of Finance had provided for all 41 main customs offices in Germany in response to a request from Bundestag member Bernhard Daldrup (SPD). The “Neue Westfälische” had previously reported on the numbers.
In the first half of the year, a good 11 percent of the investigations across all sectors (82,558) related to illegal employment, social fraud and minimum wage violations on construction sites, according to IG BAU. The determined amount of damage here is around 161 million euros.
“The violations that were uncovered are just the tip of the iceberg,” said IG-BAU board member Carsten Burckhardt in Frankfurt. Undeclared work and illegal employment were part of everyday life in construction. Entire constructs of bogus subcontractors would be set up to cover up illegal employment.
Burckhardt warned of an increase in illegal activities: “High inflation, rising construction interest rates, high material and energy costs – everything leads to increasing cost pressure in construction.” Precisely because there is no industry minimum wage in the industry and too few undeclared work controls, employers who adhere to the construction collective agreement came under pressure. Burckhardt called for a stronger customs presence on construction sites. In addition, companies that have become conspicuous should be excluded from public contracts.
