ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Forenede Service, Denmark's second largest cleaning contractor, has been hit with a multi-million kroner fine for underpaying subcontractors - reports trade magazine Fagbladet 3F.

Earlier this year the company was exposed for systematically exploiting Romanian cleaners who were being brought over to Denmark by one of the company's subcontractors.

The Romanians worked long hours with no pay and many lived in squalid conditions in a basement flat owned by Jimmy Nika, who served as a subcontractor to Forenede Service for years. Many of them reported being paid less than their promised salary of 500 euros a month, and some said they were not paid at all.

Workers also reported being threatened with physical violence, and some of them had their ID papers stolen.

Fagbladet 3F's investigation also found that several employees of Forenede Service's various subcontractors were discovered by the tax authority Skat to have been living and/or working illegally in Denmark.

In a settlement reached with the unions 3F and Serviceforbundet, the company has agreed to pay a substantial fine and clean up its hiring and payment practices. The exact amount of the fine was not revealed.

Fagbladet 3F reports Forenede Service was found to have violated the terms of Section 42 of the collective bargaining agreement, which states that cleaning companies must pay the same hourly rate for subcontractors as they would pay their own employees.

www.fagbladet3f.dk