ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Iceland's Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs has issued new procurement guidelines for cleaning contracts across the country.

European trade union federation UNI Europa and its Icelandic affiliate Efling have welcomed two new developments. Firstly, the guidelines strengthen bidders' compliance with applicable collective agreements and labour laws. Bidders must submit a declaration of compliance and the trade union representing the prospective workers must confirm it.

A cleaning company with confirmed cases of paying wages below the legal minimum or other irregularities can be refused confirmation by the union, potentially leading to exclusion from the bid.

Secondly, bidders must now note how many hours total they expect the respective cleaning job to take. For jobs larger than 1,000 square metres, the contracting authority must ask an independent party to assess how many hours the job should take.

This stops bidders from underestimating labour costs which, in turn, prevents them from paying their workers too few hours, which would force the workers either to work at an unreasonable pace or to deliver less than the tender requires. A bid must be rejected if it does not meet the collective agreement's minimum standards on how much work can be demanded of workers.

"I know from my own experience how hard it is for cleaners when the workload is excessive. My workday is not supposed to be like an endless gym class," said Beata Prokop, a cleaning worker and Efling union representative.

"The big public buyers, like the University of Iceland where I clean, should do their part in preventing that kind of situation. I hope the new guidelines will guarantee that, and make a positive change happen for all cleaners around Iceland who are working hard, sometimes way too hard, to keep our schools and hospitals clean."

The guidelines build on existing cleaning industry standards for output, work pace and hours - originally developed in Denmark - which make use of standardised three-digit cleaning frequency codes applied to each room on the cleaning plan using floor drawings.

These standards are also referred to in the existing collective agreement between Efling and the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise (SA) for cleaning work. The agreement sets a maximum work pace and requires extra pay for work done at a faster pace.

"I am very pleased with these guidelines," said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chairman of Efling. "They will help make sure that Efling members who work in cleaning are not subjected to wage theft or excessive workloads. Unfortunately, we have seen far too many examples of both in recent years. I welcome the fact that the government listened to us, and that years of work are now paying off."

Public procurement rules, in Iceland as in the EU, generally promote the lowest price in procurement. Four to five leading cleaning companies compete intensely for public cleaning contracts in Iceland, and some bids differ by large, unexplained amounts says UNI Europa. Efling's view is that in many cases the companies are competing mainly on how much workload they demand of their staff, and that these demands often go beyond what collective agreements allow. Workloads this heavy are also a health and safety risk.

The guidelines - which apply to all institutions directly under the Icelandic state - were developed in consultation with Efling and the Federation of General and Special Workers in Iceland (SGS), and were published in the government's online consultation portal prior to approval. The employers' federation of Iceland (SA) objected to the guidelines.

UNI Europa regional secretary Oliver Roethig commented: "Iceland's new procurement guidelines shows why it is important that lawmakers listen to workers when writing public procurement rules. Effective consultation between social partners and governments improves working conditions for services workers and improves service quality for public institutions and citizens.

"We call on the European co-legislators to learn from Iceland's example and ensure that EU procurement rules promote better jobs and collective bargaining."

www.uni-europa.org

www.efling.is