New A-krimsamarbeidet collaboration report. It exposes worker exploitation and other work related crimes in certain parts of the shipbuilding industry in Møre og Romsdal.
– The discoveries we have made are serious. Exploitation workers and other forms of work-related crime provide a competitive advantage over serious actors, says Jens Erik Romslo, section manager at the Norwegian Labor Inspectorate.
A report on the shipbuilding industry was prepared by the police in Møre og Romsdal, Norwegian Labor Inspectorate and tax administration. Møre og Romsdal has a large and significant shipbuilding industry. As part of the project, a total of 2020 out of over 2021 shipyards were inspected in 8-20.
The project consistently focuses on prevention. The dialogue with the shipyards about what was discovered was the most important. An important goal was to help the shipyards improve their own internal control. It thus enables the shipyards themselves to prevent future crime.
- We have the impression that the shipyards are serious about the challenges and discoveries they have discovered. It's positive that the players themselves want to clean up, says Romslo.
Findings were also discovered to which cooperation on crime was continued and responded to.
Breaches of wages and working conditions of employees at the shipyard's subcontractors
The Arbeidstilsynet has detected flagrant breaches of workers' wages and working conditions at the yard's subcontractors. "We found, among other things, very inadequate recording of working hours, which makes it difficult for us to control wages and working hours," says Romslo. It claims that they have accepted a total of 167 orders for the shipyards' subcontractors, relating to very basic pay and working conditions. In addition, so far 4 fines for infringement (OTG) ranging from 42 to 000 million have been imposed.
The tax authorities found a breach of the reporting obligation that applies to all companies when they outsource assignments to foreign companies. A breach of the obligation of foreign subcontractors to register and report employees was also found. "This involves the risk that the required tax and duty will not be paid, so we run the risk that the public will lose out on possible tax revenues," says section manager Kristi Totland Skaar in the Tax Administration.
The aim of the police was to detect weak points
Also, a few of the employees inspected did not carry out the mandatory identity checks. In addition, the tax administration also revealed several operating companies that did not have an organizational number. It is too early for the tax administration to say anything about the controls and what response companies can expect.
The police participated in the shipyard project in a preventive way and did not punish people or industry. – The police's goal was detection vulnerabilities and forcing the industry to be cleared, says police inspector Camilla Giske in the Møre og Romsdal police district. These are serious arrangements, but above all we wanted to help shipyards make changes. So far, no investigation has been launched based on what was revealed, but it cannot be ruled out that one could happen.
Transfer of experience to other industries
The efforts directed at the yard were based on several clues that were received in 2018 and 2019 and on experiences from previous inspections. Wages and working conditions have been a recurring topic in counseling. The shipbuilding industry is also characterized by many subcontractors with large numbers of third country nationals. It is characterized by intensive work and other characteristics of industries that are particularly vulnerable to work-related crime. The project was carried out in order to broaden the knowledge about the crime risk in the shipbuilding industry.
Along the way, the shipyards received updated information on the findings and proposed measures. The shipyards have provided valuable improvement proposals that will benefit the industry as a whole.
The report's conclusions are not unique to the shipbuilding industry. Agencies report that they can also be found in other industries, especially where there is talk of low requirements for formal competences. It is recommended that the business community is generally well-versed in the findings that the main draft has exposed.
Source: Politiet
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