ABSTRACT
Business cleaning is one of the sectors with the highest incidence of low pay in all five countries investigated. Like other business services (such as security, for example), firms in the cleaning sector operate in a context of strong price-led bidding for contracts for services provision. Drawing on empirical evidence from three countries—Germany, Spain and the UK—this chapter explores the very distinctive attempts and approaches of the social actors to improve pay and working conditions in the sector. It asks the following questions:
What is the form of interaction between collective bargaining and the system of minimum wage regulation?
What role do client organisations play in setting the boundaries on the quantity and quality of services provision?
How and to what extent does product market regulation or the presence of a sectoral wage agreement dampen downwards pressures from client businesses on unit prices and the encouragement of informal business practices?
