The Government’s decision to include home care workers under the same regulations as domestic workers has caused widespread concern in the sector. The union UGT Servicios Públicos expressed its opposition to the change during a recent meeting of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), pointing out that this move undermines the professionalization of home care workers that has been pursued since the introduction of the Dependency Law. The new Royal Decree, which regulates health and safety in the household sector, fails to acknowledge the distinct nature of home care work. By grouping home care assistants with domestic workers, it ignores existing legislation and collective bargaining agreements that already govern the home care sector. UGT emphasizes that while the regulation brings improvements for domestic workers, it mixes two very different professional fields, creating challenges for home care services.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
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