You spoke, and we listened. At the recent Building Service Contractors Association International show, we asked readers and other attendees what they wanted to see in these pages. A very common response: “Please, you need to write something about illegal subcontracting. It’s killing our business.”

In this month’s cover story, writer Becky Mollenkamp found that recent developments such as last year’s Wal-Mart bust and BSCAI’s continuing drive for immigration- and tax-law enforcement (see our February news section) are bringing needed attention to the issue. However, she also found a few unethical contractors continue to flout the law and drive the good guys out of the market.

Mollenkamp offers tips for reporting these unethical building service contractors. We do appreciate it when you share your stories with us, but please, take it a step further and call the authorities when you believe a competitor is deliberately misclassifying workers as subcontractors or otherwise breaking the law.

I know it’s tough to report a colleague, but this is an issue that can’t police itself. Illegal subcontracting and worker exploitation is a blight on the industry, but it can be eradicated through the vigilance of ethical BSCs.




POSTED ON: 7/1/2004