Building a European alliance for daytime cleaning

Unfortunately, daytime cleaning remains under-utilised by European institutions and other large clients.

Women who often still have to care for their children or older loved ones are not only deprived of work-life balance but also placed into more isolated and vulnerable situations, both on and off the job. Meanwhile, for many migrant workers, the cleaning sector is a pathway into the labour market of their new host societies. Yet rather than being integrated into an office with colleagues and social interactions, current working hours are a barrier to their societal integration.

That is why the EU social partners in Industrial Cleaning EFCI and UNI Europa signed a joint statement calling on the European institutions to implement daytime cleaning and continuous shifts for their cleaners in October 2022.

Most recently, the German Labour and Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil announced that cleaners would no longer need work in the evening hours in his Ministry. He added: “I want to make this the standard in all federal ministries. Seeing who cleans up their own mess is good for everyone.”

In France, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal gave cleaners working in his buildings the option to work during the daytime as well. Across Europe, trade unions and their counterparts are engaging in activities to increase the implementation of daytime cleaning.

Last year, UNI Europa organised a one-day conference to hear from experts and policy-makers about the benefits of daytime cleaning, the results of the global cleaning survey, learn from different daytime cleaning initiatives across Europe, how we can advance union power through the topic of daytime cleaning, and better understand the devastating effects of night-time and shift work. The full report is now available here.