Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 4th June 2026 Issue no. 1213

Your industry news - first

The original and best - for over 20 years!

We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.

Cleaners in Norway strike for higher wages and sick pay

What began with an initial strike involving 25 cleaners has expanded significantly, with more than 650 workers across dozens of companies in Norway now involved in the action.

Following failed mediation with the employers' association NHO Service og Handel, Norsk Arbeidsmandsforbund, (The Norwegian Union of General Workers) called strike action in the cleaning sector.

The dispute centres on fair pay and economic security during illness. The cleaners are demanding a real wage increase that protects purchasing power and ensures that their wage development keeps pace with national collective bargaining outcomes. They are also demanding fairer sick pay arrangements.

Currently, after the first 16 days of illness, many workers must wait for payments from the public welfare administration (NAV), which can leave low-paid cleaners without income for weeks. The union argues that workers in low-paid essential jobs deserve the same financial security during illness that many other workers already enjoy.

As Norsk Arbeidsmandsforbund President Brede Edvardsen has made clear, this is a struggle against inequality and the treatment of cleaners as second-class workers. In his words, these are workers "society depends on, but who are only noticed when they stop working."

This struggle resonates far beyond Norway, notes the Union, saying that across Europe, cleaners continue to face low pay, insecure working conditions, and a lack of recognition despite performing work that keeps our societies functioning.

As Union UNI Europa Property Services president Zeynep Biçici reminds us: "Respect and dignity at work are not privileges; they are fundamental rights for every worker."

https://arbeidsmandsforbundet.no | www.uni-europa.org

4th June 2026