EU social partners: Unions and employers in four sectors call for ‘responsible’ awarding of contracts

In April 2008, the EU-level social partners in the catering, cleaning, security and textiles sectors made an unprecedented joint call for public and private sector contracts to be awarded “responsibly” and not just on the basis of price.

Private security, contract catering, commercial cleaning and clothing/textiles are among the 35 industries that have a formal EU-level sectoral social dialogue committee, made up of employer and trade union representatives, recognised by the European Commission. In all four cases, these committees have in recent years agreed joint guidelines on the award criteria to be used by companies and public authorities in tendering processes, stressing that factors other than price ought to be taken into account.