The VPÖD public service union was one of the unions involved in negotiating a new five-year collective agreement covering 50,000 cleaning workers in the German-speaking area of the country. The authorities have declared the agreement generally binding and so it will also cover workers who are employed by firms who are not party to the agreement. The minimum wage set by the agreement will increase by 2-2.5% in 2012 and there will also be a 13th month salary. The sector is also running a campaign, “Fair-Clean”, that calls for a fair price for cleaning contracts and respect for cleaning workers. It will highlights the economic importance and professionalism of the sector.
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/433
German: http://www.fair-clean.ch/
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.