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Social Partners in the Private Security sector discuss the impact of the crises



On March 5^th, on the occasion of the Social Dialogue Committee meeting for Private Security, UNI Europa and CoESS discussed the impact of the recent labour market reform on business and workers



Prompted by the recent labour market reforms in Spain and Greece, social partners’ discussion turned around the consequences and the impact for the industry and on its employees.



UNI Europa stressed that, amid tight financial targets and in the name of competitiveness, national governments have unilaterally imposed unpopular and undemocratic laws dismantling national and sectoral collective bargaining institutions, exacerbating social cohesion and driving wages and working conditions in a downward spiral. The lack of involvement and consultation with social partners was also deplored.



Trade Unions representatives from Spain illustrated the consequences on their county of the new labour market reforms which they consider unfair to workers, inefficient to the economy and useless to employment. Spanish employers backed Unions in this respect. Representatives from Ireland also lamented that as a consequence of the measures adopted following successive bailout packages, they will have to expect more years of austerity and severe downward wage pressure.



The Private Security sector is not alien to these worrying trends. On the contrary, both CoESS and UNI Europa agreed that with stricter financial constraints, public administration will inevitably have to reduce their budget for private security services. By allowing private security companies to compete on the sole basis of the price in time of economic recession, the reduction on wages and the level of working conditions offered to private guards are the most predictable effects. Workers will be more and more asked to “do more for less”. What is more, in countries where company’s agreement will be privileged to sectoral bargaining agreements, which will be eliminated or weakened, labour costs and wages could become a pure factor of competition.



In the end, Social Partners in the Private Security Sector concluded the following:



· They fully recognised the detrimental social and economic impact of the recent labour market reforms

· Called for a real involvement of social partners at all levels as an essential element for safeguarding our European Social Model

· Condemned the unfair competition and the easy solutions such as reducing wages and access to training as a way to save money