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Support Striking Dutch Cleaners

by ManfromMiddletown Fri Feb 17th, 2012 at 09:03:59 AM EST

Sign the petition here.

Thousands of Dutch cleaners, members of trade union FNV Bondenoten, are standing up to fight their invisibility in society. They have been on strike for more than 30 days to demand respect and fair pay on the job. The cleaners' work is important: it provides a healthy and clean atmosphere to executives, doctors, bankers and ministers.

The cleaners aren't asking for millions or great riches. They just want ordinary things, such as sick pay, enough time to do the job, security for timeworkers and a fair wage to take care of their families. Big, wealthy clients like Philips, ING, Ahold, Dutch government ministries, the tax authorities and universities expect miracles for impossibly cheap cleaning deals. FNV Bondgenoten members need your help.

Please support the cleaners and send a message to their bosses and the most important clients: Hans Simons the chairman of the empoyers' group, Anton Witte is the main negotiator for the employers and Norma van den Berg represents cleaning giant ISS in the negotiations. Hans Schelbergen is responsible for the cleaning contract at Philips, which cut 1.3 million euros from its cleaning budget while paying out 3 million euros to six executives. Peter Specker is responsible for the government cleaning contracting. The cleaners ask their friends around the globe to support their Uprising of the Invisible.

Let us never be silent or invisible anymore. The price of outsourcing is the same around the globe: it has negative effects on quality, health and prosperity. The cleaners of the Netherlands, who have roots in all the countries of the world, are standing up and speaking loud and clear: SCHOONGENOEG (Clean enough!)

yeah, this too! frontpaged by afew


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Rather than a petition, it's sending a message to those named.

Done.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Feb 17th, 2012 at 03:36:42 AM EST
The Netherlands is a part-time job champion. Here are some numbers gleaned (with some calculations on my part) from Eurostat, Labour Force Survey for 2010:

  • Of all persons employed, 46% are women
  • Of all persons employed, 48% are on part time
  • Of all persons employed, 35% are women on part time
  • Of all jobs held by women in the Elementary occupations sector (includes cleaning), 90% are part-time

Part-time work is generally associated with lower pay and rights, less benefits, more precarity. It's also more often held by women than men. (It's true, partly voluntarily, for reasons of child and family responsibilities mainly).

This can be hailed as a success in bringing women into the labour force. It also massages the unemployment rate quite nicely.

But 9 out of 10 jobs held by women in a low-paid occupational sector being part-time looks like a recipe for exploitation.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Feb 17th, 2012 at 04:42:52 AM EST


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