On 29 September 2026, the European Transport Workers’ Federation ETF and the European Road Haulers Association UETR brought to the European Parliament their request for rules governing subcontracting chains in road transport. The meeting, hosted in Brussels by Swedish MEP Johan Danielsson, was intended to bring the issue into the debate over the future European framework for quality employment. The demands concern a regulatory framework that has yet to be written, as there is currently no Directive governing subcontracting in road haulage.
ETF describes a typical supply chain in which the original customer entrusts road transport to a logistics provider, freight forwarder or haulier, which may in turn subcontract the work through several further tiers. As a result, the haulier actually performing the journey and the driver may not know which parties make up the chain or what contractual, social and compliance requirements have been imposed by the original customer. Trade unions see this lack of transparency as creating a risk of social dumping, avoidance of pay and social-security obligations and competition based on squeezing labour costs. As a concrete example, ETF cites Tajik drivers hired in Lithuania and deployed in Western Europe through subcontracting arrangements involving companies based in Austria and the Netherlands, making it difficult to identify the actual employer and the protections that apply. At the heart of the unions’ demands is a maximum of two subcontracting tiers, together with joint and several liability for customers, contractors and subcontractors throughout the chain and equal treatment on pay, social-security contributions, taxation, health and safety and collective rights. ETF is also calling for harmonised rules on the role and responsibilities of agencies and other intermediaries, along with stronger inspections and cooperation between national authorities, including across borders, in an industry where haulier, driver and customer are often located in different countries.
UETR is less prescriptive about setting a numerical ceiling on subcontracting tiers, but its position is broadly compatible with the trade unions’ demands. The organisation regards subcontracting and intermediary platforms as legitimate and potentially efficient tools, but considers overly long and opaque supply chains problematic because they can encourage social dumping, distort competition and weaken the bargaining power and margins of small businesses. The business side is divided, however, as shown by the position expressed by IRU on the same day, 29 September, distancing itself from the initiative. IRU, which describes itself as the employers’ social partner in the EU Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Road Transport and represents operators of all sizes, points out that practices, market structures and approaches to subcontracting vary considerably among Member States and that there is therefore no common position among European operators in favour of EU intervention. In practice, it argues, the ETF and UETR position cannot be presented as representative of employers as a whole.
The European Parliament had already addressed the issue in February 2026, when it adopted a report on subcontracting chains and the role of intermediaries, which UETR welcomed as a basis for future EU action. However, the European Commission retains full discretion over the form, ambition and content of any eventual proposal. The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) identifies transport, logistics, construction and agriculture among the sectors in which complex, cross-border supply chains are more vulnerable to fraudulent practices, while noting that EU law already contains provisions against abuse, although these are scattered across different pieces of legislation covering posted workers, employer sanctions, trafficking, seasonal work and platform work.
Still in the employment field, on 15 September 2026 the European Commission adopted the Fair Labour Mobility Package, containing five legislative proposals on labour mobility, the digital portability of social-security documents and strengthening the European Labour Authority (ELA). The package addresses cross-border verification tools, including digital social-security documents such as A1 certificates for posted workers, and a stronger ELA role in supporting inspections and cooperation between Member States, but does not set limits on the number of subcontracting tiers. That issue falls under the Quality Jobs Act, the legislative initiative that the Commission has announced for the end of 2026 and which, to date, has not yet been presented. Its five possible areas of intervention include algorithmic management and artificial intelligence at work, health and safety, workers’ rights in subcontracting chains, just transitions, enforcement of rules and the role of the social partners. The full text is not yet available.
Antonio Illariuzzi
