Attack on union activist draws attention to working conditions in cleaning companies

A vicious attack on a migrant worker in a subcontracting cleaning company, who is also a trade union activist, brought the working conditions of people in precarious employment – especially women and migrants – into the public eye and led to a series of protests and campaigns. A study by the Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation of Labour highlights the inadequacy of the statutory framework, as well as numerous legal violations in the cleaning industry.

Vicious attack on union activist triggers social reactions

On 22 December 2008, Constantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker and trade union activist, was the victim of an attack involving sulphuric acid while returning home from her workplace (BG0902029I). She was seriously wounded, losing sight in one eye and the use of her vocal chords; she remains in a hospital intensive care unit. As General Secretary of the Athens-based All Attica Union of Cleaners and Domestic Workers (Παναττική Ένωση Καθαριστριών και Οικιακού Προσωπικού, PEKOP), a few weeks before this attack Ms Kuneva had warned during a recorded interview at the end of November for the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) that she was in serious danger owing to her trade union activities. In this interview, Ms Kuneva also complained about the low wages and harsh working conditions in the cleaning sector, where 80% of the employees are migrants and the vast majority are women.

Following the attack, a wave of reactions by trade unions was unleashed at national and international level, as well as by broader strata of Greek society, in a period of more general social tension, following a tragic incident in which a schoolboy was killed by a police officer on 6 December 2008 (GR0901039I). At national level, the Greek General Confederation of Labour (Γενική Συνομοσπονδία Εργατών Ελλάδας, GSEE) issued a press release (in Greek) and the Federation of Greek Private Employees (Ομοσπονδία Ιδιωτικών Υπαλλήλων Ελλάδας, ΟΙΥΕ) also issued a [press statement (in Greek, 151Kb PDF)](http://www.oiye.gr/doc_anak/DT ERGOLAVOI KATHARISMOU.pdf). At international level, ITUC made a statement demanding justice be done. PEKOP and a solidarity group of almost 100 other first-level trade unions took activist action, including a series of occupations of buildings. In addition, there was a high level of participation in a solidarity march held in January 2009. The trade union put forward numerous demands, including the abolition of contract work, direct hiring of cleaners, monitoring, and termination of contracts assigning work to contracting companies known to be repeat violators of labour legislation.

Employment responsibilities

In fact, following the February 2009 occupation of the central management building of Athens Piraeus Electric Railways (Ηλεκτρικοί Σιδηρόδρομοι Αθηνών Πειραιώς, ISAP), the public enterprise on whose premises Ms Kuneva worked, an agreement was signed between PEKOP, the enterprise-level trade union of ISAP workers and ISAP. In the agreement, the company acknowledged its share of the responsibility for observing labour legislation with regard to the employees in successive cleaning companies and made a commitment to terminate its contract with the current contractor and carry out a new tender procedure in cooperation with employee representatives. Nonetheless, this agreement has not yet been implemented.

From the employer’s point of view, according to an announcement by the contracting company that employed Ms Kuneva, all of the accusations made against the company stating that it had violated the rights of its employees are unfounded, as is any attempt to connect the attack with the victim’s trade union activity. In fact, the enterprise-level trade union representing the company’s employees also supports this view. However, according to PEKOP, repeated checks by the Corps of Labour Inspectors (Σώμα Επιθεωρητών Εργασίας, SEPE) have established that a large number of violations of labour and insurance legislation did indeed occur.

Working conditions in cleaning industry

In January 2009, the Labour Institute of GSEE (Ινστιτούτο Εργασίας ΓΣΕΕ, INE/GSEE) presented an empirical [study (in Greek, 379Kb PDF)](http://www.inegsee.gr/Áðáó÷üëçóç óôïí êëÜäï êáèáñéóìïý-ôåëéêü.pdf) on working conditions with cleaning contractors. The study reveals that at least 17,500 people work in around 93 cleaning companies. About 80% of the workers are women and immigrants. The cleaning companies carry out business not only in the private sector but also in the public sector, where they undertake the cleaning of, for example, hospitals, public enterprises, courts, banks, airports and port authorities’ premises.

The study highlights the inadequacy of the statutory framework, as well as numerous violations of labour and administrative legislation, such as those outlined below.

• In the public sector, cleaning services are usually assigned to private entities through a competition to the lowest bidder. Cases have occurred where work was awarded to a company that submitted a bid lower than the amount required to cover the total minimum wages of the workers. In another case, work was awarded to a company whose bid involved exorbitant expense to the state, which would have been more than enough to cover the labour costs of directly employing an adequate number of full-time staff.

• The law stipulates that cleaners who work fewer than 30 hours a week are not covered by insurance for arduous and unhealthy occupations. It is common practice for employers to avoid meeting their insurance obligations by giving false statements of cleaners working fewer than 30 hours a week.

• Other common problems that occur include workplace accidents, undeclared and uninsured work, failure to observe health and safety regulations, refusal by employers to provide a copy of employment contracts, forging signatures in order to amend employment contracts, vindictive dismissals, as well as prevention and distortion of trade unionism.

• Cases of sexual harassment and intimidation, particularly of foreign workers, have also been noted.

GSEE’s demands regarding legislation and protection

Prompted by the attack on Ms Kuneva, GSEE presented its demands for employees of cleaning contractors as follows:

• the law should require an express obligation for assignment contracts to be for an amount higher than total employees’ wages and the minimum cost of individual protection as well as health and safety measures in general;

• an actuarial study should be performed on public organisations and state-run utilities and services to compare the cost of assigning cleaning to contractors to the cost of employing permanent staff;

• the law should hold the contracting entity and the contractor jointly responsible as regards employers’ obligations. In the event that the employer’s obligations are not observed, provision should be made for penalties to be levied against the contracting entity and for the contractor to be declared in default of the contract. In the event that the contractor is declared in default, the contracting entity should assume responsibility for paying the wages and insurance contributions of the employees;

• the law should contain an express obligation for assignment contracts to be provided to the competent trade union organisations;

• employees should be paid through a bank, so that documented proof of the amount of pay and time of payment exists;

• a special tripartite committee should be set up to monitor contractors. The committee should be competent to cancel works contracts in the event that labour legislation is not observed;

• the Health and Safety Committee in the place of work should include an employee representative from the respective sectoral trade union organisation;

• the cleaning industry should be included in the list of arduous and unhealthy occupations;

• the law should oblige workers to receive training on workplace health and safety.

Commentary

Recent years have seen a rapid rise in the practice of outsourcing cleaning and security services in the public and private sectors; however, there is a lack of adequate monitoring mechanisms and a suitable statutory framework to avoid malfeasance and to protect workers. The tragic incident of the attack against trade union activist Constantina Kuneva brought the working conditions of people – especially women and immigrants – in precarious employment into the public eye and mobilised broad strata of Greek society (trade unions, women’s organisations, citizens’ movements, students and young people), in a period of acute social tension. For instance, tensions were high following the tragic incident mentioned above in which a schoolboy was shot dead by a police officer in December 2008. All of this indicates that political will and legislative initiatives are needed to restrict and regulate precarious forms of employment, in order to adequately protect workers and avoid heightened social dissatisfaction in the future.

Sofia Lampousaki, Labour Institute of Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE/GSEE)