Employees of the hygiene and catering industry protested in Brussels

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 10. 02. 10:41

Hundreds of European security, hygiene and catering industry workers gathered at noon on Tuesday in Brussels, in the center of the quarter that houses the European Union institutions, to demand a reform of EU public procurement competition rules.

Due to the strike related to the demonstration, almost all flights at Belgium’s two largest airports, Zaventem and Charleroi, were canceled on Tuesday.

According to the Belgian public service media RTBF, fourteen trade unions from nine European countries were at the head of the demonstration organized in the Belgian capital, the aim of which was to call on the European Commission and the European Parliament to reform the rules on the awarding of public procurement contracts.

The trade unions have criticized that the current rules enable the winning of public procurement tenders that depress wages and result in poor working conditions.

Oliver Roethig, regional secretary of the European trade union union Uni Europa, told the press that the demonstration also aims to “make visible the workers who are often ignored, despite the fact that they do essential work, and without them it would not work the society”.

One participant in the demonstration, who works in the cleaning industry, reported that under the current conditions, a job that takes three hours can be done in one hour. He also added that his employers lacked respect for them.