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EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 24 - Page 4

'Ground-breaking' agreement signed to clean up private security industry

EMPLOYERS AND UNIONS, NOW HABITUALLY KNOWN as the social partners, have again forged an agreement, this time on an industry-wide basis, which applies throughout Europe. UNI-EUROPA, the federation for EU and candidate countries' trade unions in the sector, and the Confederation of European Security Services (COESS) signed a deal in July which seeks to provide common codes for the industry across national boundaries, especially where local laws are lax.

Its general aims are to raise standards and guarantee a high level of professional ethics in private security firms across the enlarged European Union. While the code states that all firms must meet the basic conditions imposed by national legislation, complying strictly with both the spirit and the letter, where there are gaps in national rules, employers and employees must work to improve them. There are currently almost 10,000 private security companies employing some 600,000 people within the existing borders of the EU, and these figures will be roughly doubled when the Union is enlarged. Social partner dialogue has existed in the sector for the last		decade and, in the social partners' view, at the moment, national regulations and practices vary widely between Member States and are sometimes inadequate, or even non-existent, with the result that there are huge variations in the quality of service provided and that the sector is unable to take full advantage of European integration. The agreement follows recent moves in the United Kingdom to regulate the private security industry. Regulations came into force in April which put a supervising body, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) in charge of making sure that anyone granted a compulsory licence has not committed an offence for five years and has 'effective communication skills in English'.
	British bouncer : regulated for the first time

The regulations will cover bouncers, wheel clampers operating on private land and, by 2005, all contract security guards, a total of 350,000 workers. The head of the SIA John Saunders estimated that one in five of them would not qualify for the new licence 'The implications are very significant for the industry', he said, 'It is going to have 20% of its workforce removed over a period of time'.
The EU agreement was widely welcomed: 'The code will promote responsible behaviour and quality employment in the sector' said Bernadette Tesch-Ségol, UNI-Europa Regional Secretary after the signing and Marc Pissens, COESS President declared 'This code is breaking new ground. Our sector should be cleaned up'. Bernhard Jansen, from the European Commission's Employment and Social Affairs directorate, stressed the importance of the social dialogue, 'This is a clear sign that sector social partners are willing to address the challenges in a pro-active way, in particular with EU enlargement'.

Bernadette Tesch-Ségol, and Marc Pissens, shake on it

The main provisions of the agreement

Licensing and authorisation - A transparent and fair licensing system should be applied throughout the sector, regardless of the size of the individual companies concerned.

Selection and recruitment - Employee selection and recruitment should be carried out according to objective criteria-employer ensures that new employees have the necessary skills to enable them to carry out their tasks.

Training - Once employees have mastered basic skills, employers should provide training on a continuous basis. Employee representatives should be consulted on the development and assessment of continuing training programmes where possible.

Social dialogue -Both parties stress the key role of social dialogue at all levels in ensuring the professionalism of the sector.

Health and safety - Some tasks within the sector bring with them a degree of risk. All companies should ensure that minimum standards of health and safety are maintained. Regulations in this area should be regularly reviewed by the authorities and the social partners.

Equal opportunities and non-discrimination - Companies in the sector should guarantee that each employee is fully integrated and not discriminated against on grounds of ethnicity or social background, skin colour, union affiliation, sex, religion, political opinion, nationality or sexual orientation.

Organisation of work - The right balance should be found between security of employment,quality of the employee's private life and fulfilling the needs of the client. The parties should co-operate to optimise the organisation of work, in particular as regards overtime, night work and weekend work.

Relationship with the police - All private security companies should cooperate with national authorities, in particular with the police, while ensuring that their employees do not divulge confidential information.

Implementation and monitoring - The parties agree to ensure the regular follow-up of the code, including monitoring and evaluation at company, national and EU level. They stress that national employers' and trade union organisations must promote the code and its application as widely and as fully as possible.

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