The cleaning worker and the luxury window

In the cleaning services sector women make up over 70% of the workforce and the gross hourly reference wage at level 2 is still below €8 — among the lowest in Italian collective bargaining.

Italy's cleaning and integrated services (multiservizi) sector employs around 600,000 workers, mostly women and with a strong presence of staff with a migrant background.

The Multiservizi/Cleaning collective contract was left unrenewed for over eight years (expired 2013, renewed only in 2021), with an estimated real wage loss of 15-20% for workers.