Union members in the cleaning and security sectors are to protest this week in support of workers’ rights being included as a consideration in the awarding of public procurement contracts when new EU rules on the issue are published later this year.
As Ireland takes over the EU presidency, rallies on the issue are due to take place in Dublin outside the Office of Government Procurement on Mayor Street and in Paris, France.
Siptu is organising the Dublin event in conjunction with UNI Europa, the European federation of service sector trade unions.
The EU’s review has been continuing for some time and a public consultation that attracted many responses from business groups, SMEs and unions was completed earlier this year. It found high levels of support for simplified tendering procedures, the allowing of corrections to bid documents during the tendering process, and changes that would make it easier for SMEs to form consortiums when bidding for larger contracts.
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On this last issue, a majority of trade unions favoured the breaking down of those large contracts into smaller units.
Every group of respondents, except non-EU ones, strongly favoured prioritising European goods and services in public procurement processes.
Under the “best price versus quality” heading, almost 90 per cent of respondents said they believed a greater emphasis on quality would result in the better achievement of environmental, social and innovation goals.
Almost two thirds of respondents (64 per cent) expressed support for incentivising the use of socially responsible public procurement, with just over half (52 per cent) favouring mandatory requirements.
A third (33 per cent) said there is no need to change the current rules.
“With the exception of business associations and SMEs, which favoured no change to the existing rules, and trade unions, which favoured mandatory provisions, all other respondent groups supported incentivising measures,” said the EU’s summary of the process.
The unions continue to push for new requirements to be included in the new rules, especially in the more labour-intensive and lower-paid sectors.
“Siptu is calling on the Government to ensure Ireland’s first National Public Procurement Strategy, currently being developed by the Office of Government Procurement, includes strong protections for workers and puts collective bargaining and fair employment standards at the heart of how public contracts are awarded,” said the union’s services divisional organiser, Adrian Kane.
“Public procurement policy has a direct impact on the wages, conditions and job security of thousands of workers in essential contract services. Too often, contracts are awarded based on lowest cost, with little regard for the workers delivering these vital services.”
UNI’s Michala Lafferty said “essential workers keep our societies running, but face a race to the bottom in their daily working lives. This revision of the procurement rules is an opportunity for EU leaders to make a real difference in the lives of workers amid a rampant cost-of-living crisis.”
