Allpura celebrates 50th anniversary
The association of Swiss cleaning companies Allpura celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. During this time, Allpura has strengthened the attractiveness of the rapidly growing industry. At the delegates' meeting on April 2, a new central president was elected in the person of Jürg Brechbühl. Jasmine Jost stepped down as president of the association after 15 years in office.
The outgoing Allpura President Jasmine Jost has one birthday wish above all for the industry: "We have been fighting for years to ensure that our multifaceted profession and our employees are finally shown the appreciation that they and we deserve. Because we keep Switzerland clean in the truest sense of the word!"
The association has been working for the economic and idealistic interests of building cleaning since 1966. Allpura promotes the professionalization of the profession with a broad range of training and continuing education programs. The industry association for German-speaking Switzerland, Allpura, which was founded in 1966, currently comprises around 200 companies that provide more than 60 percent of the jobs in the cleaning industry. The building cleaning industry employs over 65,000 people in German-speaking Switzerland; turnover is estimated at around two billion Swiss francs.
Proven social partnership
Building cleaning has been one of the growth industries over the past two decades and has also survived the recent economic downturn relatively unscathed compared with other sectors of the economy. However, the uncertainties that have persisted in the Swiss economy for some time now are exacerbating the pressure on margins and prices on a sustained basis. In addition, the outsourcing of production facilities is increasingly eliminating space for cleaning and maintenance. The collective labor agreement (CLA) of the cleaning industry in German-speaking Switzerland provides a secure basis even in these difficult times.
For more than 10 years, the social partners have maintained a corresponding contractual framework. Thanks to this social achievement, around 65,000 employees in 2,000 cleaning companies in German-speaking Switzerland now benefit from a continuously increased minimum wage, fair working conditions and financially supported training opportunities. For maintenance cleaners, the real wage has risen by 25% and for special cleaners by 12% since the first CLA was concluded in 2004. In addition to Allpura, the unions Unia, Syna and VPOD are negotiating partners in the CLA.
Enormous integration performance
Since 1998, building cleaning has been an apprenticeship profession with which a federal certificate or certificate of proficiency can be obtained. After the three-year apprenticeship and several years of practice, further training can be followed by a professional examination and a higher technical examination. At the university of applied sciences level, a degree in facility management can be completed. In hardly any other industry are the career opportunities as great as in the cleaning industry.
Among other things, the employee associations and Allpura would like to link minimum wages even more closely to the level of training with the planned CLA from 2018." Jürg Brechbühl, the newly elected president of Allpura, attaches particular importance to the increased awareness of the social responsibility that the cleaning industry has been assuming for years: "We employ people from over 100 nations and have thus been making a major contribution to the training and integration of many foreign employees for many years - and that, it should be noted, without any government support!
Allpura represents its economic policy concerns through its membership of the Swiss Employers' Association (SAV) and the European Federation of Cleaning Industries (EFCI), as well as the European association FIDEN, among others.
Greatest concern: More appreciation
The outgoing Allpura President Jasmine Jost has one birthday wish above all for the industry: "We have been fighting for years to ensure that our multifaceted profession and our employees are finally shown the appreciation that they and we deserve. Because we literally keep Switzerland clean!" Jasmine Jost has had a significant influence on the history of the association during her 15 years as president. Among other things, she has contributed to the recognition of the profession of "Building Cleaner", the continuous development of the collective labor agreement and the opening of the national training center for cleaning in Rickenbach.
