ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Mark Bergfeld, director Property Services & UNI Care at UNI Global Union - Europa, has been reporting on the Industrial Cleaning congress of the Belgian trade union AC CG-FGTB ABVV at the end of last year. As part of the programme, more than 140 cleaning industry professionals took part in a discussion about daytime cleaning.

During one of the last trade conferences in 2024, we brought together about 140 delegates from the cleaning sector, including a number of white-collar workers for the first time. A number of trade union achievements of the last four years were looked back on, as well as the trade union representativeness and strength of the AC in the sector.

A number of files were discussed in more depth: such as the requirement for daytime cleaning or the application of a number of new collective labour agreements and regulations (work stress and workload, transport expenses, attendance registration). A successful conference was concluded with a debate on occupational diseases in cleaning.

The clear right-wing choice in the last European elections also worries us at European level. After all, a revision of the 'public procurement' directive is planned for the coming period, which is of direct importance for a service sector such as cleaning and for the employment conditions in the sector.

That is why actions were already held in June around 'daytime cleaning' and again in October, when the European Parliament was reconstituted. "There should be no savings on the backs of subcontracted employees," said Koenraad Maertens, federal secretary of the General Centrale - ABVV, responsible for the cleaning sector. 'Stop the race to the bottom' is our demand to demonstrate that awards should not only be made on the basis of the lowest price, but that other criteria must also be taken into account, such as quality of service and, above all, respect for the applicable collective labour agreements in the sector (throughout Europe).

High presence of work stress

'Stop the race to the bottom' can be directly linked to fair competition and the work stress that employees experience in the sector. An ever-increasing workload and workload cause stress. Stress due to changes in schedules, with less and less time to complete the same work. Stress due to the great flexibility required, such as unexpectedly having to fill in for sick colleagues or having to work at irregular times, whether before or after the end of the 'normal' working day. Work pressure and workload cause work stress and, as became clear in one of the working groups, are interconnected. Did you know that stress is recognised as a cause of occupational disease?

Apply for your occupational diseases

It is important to know that you can always submit an application to have your illness recognised as an occupational disease. The more often such an application is received for the same disease, the greater the chance that it will be recognised. These applications are submitted to FEDRIS, which is responsible for occupational diseases and accidents at work. The conference discussed the procedure for applying for recognition as an occupational disease. A representative of FEDRIS was critically questioned based on the observation made by both our research department and a doctor that it often stops at non-recognition.

The figures also show that working in cleaning is not only difficult, but sometimes also really unhealthy. Seven out of 10 night-time cleaners show signs of not getting enough sleep. Fifty per cent of those who work an evening or night shift have bad eating habits.

For the safety and health of employees, we at UNI ask that more is done about 'daytime cleaning', i.e. cleaning during the day. This brings many advantages. It ensures cleaners can talk to their colleagues, that their work is seen, that they get the respect they deserve. It ensures cleaners do not have to work in isolation.

During the congress it was also examined what the militants present think of this demand. Can they support it and do they see the advantages, do they also see disadvantages or do they find this unrealistic? It was clear that it should above all be discussed.

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