The new BaselWorld halls have become involved in a Swiss parliamentary investigation into wage dumping in the construction industry in Switzerland.
According to a report in the Inter Press Service, Slovenian labourers who have been working on creating the new Messe Basel halls for the BaselWorld exhibition have been underpaid.
The Slovenian workers, who are at the bottom of a chain of subcontractors hired to get the new halls created on time for the BaselWorld 2013 opening date, claim that they have been paid just €8 an hour instead of the €27.50 guaranteed by a Swiss collective labour agreement.
The construction company HRS Real Estate has been charged with building the new Messe Basel halls as the prime contractor but denies any wrongdoing and has said that it cannot control the wages paid to subcontractors.
Messe Basel and HRS Real Estate have said that they will step in over the outstanding salaries that the subcontractor should have paid to avoid any delays or damage to the companies’ reputations.
Labour unions have said that the practice of wage dumping by subcontractors has become common in Switzerland since it relaxed regulations to allow EU citizens to work in the country.
