Social dialogue in the industrial cleaning sectors covers activities related to NACE (Rev.2) code 81.21, 81.22 and 81.29, which include:
- general cleaning of all types of buildings,
- general cleaning of other business and professional premises,
- exterior cleaning of all types of buildings,
- specialized cleaning activities for buildings,
- cleaning of industrial machinery,
- disinfecting and exterminating activities,
- bottle cleaning, street sweeping and snow and ice removal.
The sectoral social dialogue committee has been created in 1999, replacing the informal working committee previously functioning since 1992.
The industrial cleaning sector in the EU provides employment to 3.8 million persons, which is 1.7% of the overall EU workforce. In 2016, there were about 270,876 cleaning sector companies in the EU (Eurofound Representativeness study, 2019).
The sector faces the following main challenge:
- digitalisation and its opportunities for the sector
- growth in specialised markets (hospitals, industrial sites, schools and leisure locations, etc.) and the need to acquire new skills and guarantee health and safety at work
- push for diversification covering all tasks related to facilities management
- environment, assessing the effects of industrial cleaning on the environment and addressing them accordingly.
Workers' organisations
Employers' organisations
Key areas
The current work programme focuses on:
- contributing to the potential revision of the public procurement directives
- retention of the workforce and adressing labour shortages in the sector
- daytime cleaning
- training and skills.
Activities & meetings
Check the library entries for this sectoral social dialogue committee.
Achievements/Joint texts
Check the social dialogue texts database.