Helsinki (14.11.2003 - Juhani Artto) Businesses and many other organisations regularly outsource the cleaning services for their offices and other operating points. It is common to award the contract to the cheapest tender. In a recent statement Finland's largest trade union confederation SAK warns of the negative consequences of this practise.
Experts agree that this approach has led to lower standards of cleanliness at places of work. This is not the most economic way to manage property, but there are worse consequences beyond this in terms of employee health.
According to the Finnish Allergy and Asthma Association, some 15 to 20 per cent of Finns suffer from allergic head colds, and 5 per cent of these develop into asthma when left untreated. Lower standards of cleanliness at places of work increase this risk. Failure to clean higher levels and ventilation ducts has become commonplace, which increases the concentration of dust and dirt in breathing air.
Cleaning service employees also suffer badly from the one-sided practise of favouring the cheapest tenders, as labour costs account for about 80 per cent of the total costs of such services. This means that there are few ways of saving costs other than cutting employee benefits. "The increase in the space cleaned daily by cleaners cannot be explained solely by progress in working methods and equipment," SAK comments. Part of the equation has involved a growing workload for cleaners with no corresponding compensation in wages and benefits.
Competitive tendering has also added to the problems of cleaners by increasing job insecurity and the tendency towards shorter periods of employment, as the successful bidder often changes. This again may mean that cleaners lose their individual wage increments and accrued annual leave.
For these reasons the statement by SAK urges wage and salary earners to insist that their employers give consideration not only to the price, but also to the quality of cleaning services. The rank and file members of SAK's private sector unions include more than 25,000 cleaners, with a further 25,000 working in the public sector.