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Cleaners are going to campaign for decent wages and training and against work pressure and intimidation. They are supported by a number of Amsterdam politicians including District Mayors Fatima Elatik and Ahmed Marcouch (PvdA) and MPs Sadet Karabulut and Patricia Linhard (PvdA). “We’re not just supporting you today, but also at future protests. If necessary, we’ll stand on the barricades,” Elatik said.

This afternoon, trade union FNV Bondgenoten organised the first Cleaners’ Parliament at City Hall, where a new chairman was elected and priorities for collective agreement negotiations were set. Negotiations reached a deadlock earlier this week, after employers said they wanted to freeze wages because of the crisis.

Cleaner Judy Lock argued that relations in the cleaning sector are determined primarily by the clients. Corporations including ING, ABN Amro and Reed Elsevier pride themselves on their Corporate Social Responsibility. “They all say they’re very social and sustainable.”

However, they try to contract cleaning at the lowest possible prizes. Cleaning companies pass these budget cuts on to the cleaners, who are faced with higher work pressure, at the expense of quality. “Our profession is being ruined,” Lock said.

The union has asked dozens of clients to support the cleaners. So far, only the Vrije Universiteit has responded. “They talk a lot about respect, but nothing is as disrespectful as not even having the courtesy to respond,” union official Ron Meyer said.

It turned out that various politicians have themselves worked as cleaners, just like their parents. Columnist Hassnae Bouazza, who presided the parliament, has cleaned at the Hilton Hotel when she was a student, but she gave up after ten days.

The cleaners were not only supported by politicians, but also by immigrants’ organisations including DIDF and HTIB, organised domestic workers and cleaners at the Utrecht Academic Hospital, who are affiliated to health care union ABVAKABO FNV.

See also the White Paper on the cleaning sector FNV Bondgenoten published this afternoon. More photos here