ISS strengthens dialogue to promote decent work conditions and wages in the service industry
Today, CEO Jørgen Lindegaard and new elected chairman of European Works Council, Paavo Hiitola (Finland), signed a renewed agreement on co-operation between ISS management and employee representatives.
The signing took place at the annual meeting of the ISS European Works Council in Copenhagen. As a result, the European Works Council now has more seats for representatives from country operations with more employees. ISS also provides new training opportunities supporting the 30 employee representatives in performing their tasks in the council.
The agreement is another step for ISS in promoting continuous dialogue between employees and management.
“Collaborating with unions and employee representatives is key to our way of doing business. Both we and the unions are committed to a market for service employment in which workers receive decent work conditions. We work together on that agenda not just in Europe, but on a global level through our global UNI-ISS agreement. The renewed agreement is another step towards facilitating proper opportunities to organise and ensure continuous dialogue between ISS and employees,” says CEO Jørgen Lindegaard, ISS A/S.
Newly elected chairman of EWC and the first chairman from a Nordic country, Paavo Hiitola, says:
“I am very happy with the new EWC-agreement, and I have noticed that all country elected employee representatives participating in the annual meeting also are very satisfied with the result. We now have an agreement that not only gives us the opportunity for relevant information and co-operation with the management, but also provide us with training in order for us improve our duties and role.”
With 480.000 employees, ISS is the world’s 9th largest private employer. ISS European Works Council was established in 1995 as one of Europe’s first Works Councils.
Facts about ISS and employee dialogue
• ISS took a pioneering step in employee dialogue and consultation in 1995, signing an agreement with national unions on the establishment of a European Works Council (EWC).
• The ISS EWC was the first in the service industry and established well ahead of EU requirements, with the assistance of the international union FIET (today UNI).
• In 2003, ISS signed a global agreement with Union Network International (UNI) to raise overall industry standards.
• Proper workplace standards are important to ISS and part of ISS’s code of conduct.
• ISS country operations engage in and support a wide range of national and local initiatives