In the cleaning sector, women in the Basque Country earn 35% less than men

In accordance with the latest data that we have access to, women in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country earn an average of 7,552 euros less than men, that is to say, almost 25% less. In the cleaning sector, salary differences in some cases can reach figures of between 3,500 and 6,000 euros, depending on agreements and territories, which is translated into salaries that are 35% lower.

Over the years, progress has been made in the cleaning sector. Many years ago, women fought for a 35 hour working week in the cleaning sector and they won it. Subsequently, in some dependent outsourcing companies in the administration, equal wage processes were obtained, such as the case of Osakidetza cleaning, Council cleaning work and in some town councils. All of which were targets that at the time seemed very difficult to achieve.

For ELA the time has come to take a step further. We want to bring the elimination of the salary gap existing between sectors that carry out the same work into the centre of the demands for this sector. ELA understands that this wage gap is not accidental and it responds exclusively to a gender-based reason. The most female-dominated sectors are the ones that suffer from the worst salaries and the most precarious contracts (part-time contracts), amongst other questions. In our opinion, this wage inequality makes up a serious political problem. Its origin lies in the segregation of the work by gender, in the unfair sharing out of the wealth and, in many cases, in the budgetary policies of cut backs.

In the areas depending on the administration, we have a very clear example: on the one hand, a sector that is 100% outsourced from the administration, a male-dominated sector, such as road sweeping and on the other hand, the outsourcing of cleaning of buildings and premises. Both are subject to specifications documents and public tender where the final responsibility lies with the administrations and where the salary differences are obvious, contracts (frequently part-time in the case of women) and even of segregation by categories (in female-dominated sectors, the men are always in the highest categories: specialists, supervisors…). We are talking about wage differences that in some cases can reach figures of 3,500 and 6,000 euros, depending on agreements and territories.

Article 14 of the Organic Law 3/2007 on Equality establishes that for public authorities the following, amongst others, will be general criteria for action: avoiding occupational segregation and eliminating wage differentials. To do this, ELA took the demand for the elimination of the wage gap to the Cleaning sector negotiations at the Guipuzcoa Regional Council and we won it. The female workers have moved on to earning a salary of 23,183 euros, the same as the male road sweepers in Guipuzcoa earn.

The women workers who clean the police stations and courts of Guipuzcoa have been on strike for over a month in an attempt to reach the same goal: wages of 23,183 euros. The same demand that we are going to take to the police stations and courts of Bizkaia. We have presented our proposal to the Security Department, which is at present preparing the specifications document.

We are asking the Basque Government to be coherent with the declarations made due to the successful strike of the 8th of March, when they said that they agreed with the goals set forth by the day’s strike, although they were not prepared to go on strike. We understand that the administration must become involved in this serious problem and move on from words to actions. It is essential to mark out positive references.

Both this year and next, we have many negotiations in process in the cleaning sector. In addition to the abovementioned ones, we have the negotiations in progress for the cleaning contracts in the Bizkaia Regional Council, cleaning in Osakidetza, cleaning in education and cleaning in work centres in a large amount of city councils in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. The administration is going to have many occasions to show if it really is backing true equality.

ELA wants to mark out some new references in the collective bargaining negotiations, incorporating analyses and gender demands and for this reason, we are going to start a campaign in the cleaning sector aimed at obtaining a minimum of the 23,183 euros that is being earned by another sector also belonging to the cleaning area, which is 100% public outsourced and the staff of which are mainly men.