"The only time people notice what a cleaner does is when she doesn't do it."
They disinfect hospital wards, scrub office floors, and sanitise the spaces we all rely on. Yet cleaners are among the most invisible workers in Europe.
In this first episode, we pull back the curtain on a typical day in the life of a cleaner. From the marble corridors of the European Parliament to a high-dependency hospital unit in Ireland, we hear what it really means to do essential work that almost no one sees.
In this episode, we hear from:
🧹Hayat Elhore, a cleaner at the European Parliament in Brussels, union representative, and mother who fought for daytime cleaning. She shares what it's like to clean a building that symbolises democracy—while often being treated as invisible.
🏥Lisa Stenson, a hospital cleaner in Ireland with over 16 years of experience. She explains the pride of cleaning life-saving equipment like incubators, the terror of being assigned to the first COVID ward, and why cleaners are "skilled workers" who deserve to be paid properly.
📖Véronique Achille-Revillod, General Secretary of CFDT Services and author of "Essential, If Essential" (Essentiels si essentiels). She traces how cleaning work has been devalued for centuries—from enslaved people to today's outsourced workforce—and argues it's time to recognise the real skills behind the mop.
🇮🇹Giusy Sferruzza, collective bargaining officer at FISASCAT-CISL (Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions). She reflects on how the pandemic briefly made cleaners "essential" in the public eye—and why that recognition failed to translate into lasting economic or regulatory change.
🔔 Subscribe now and join us every week as we bring to the forefront the hidden stories behind Europe’s most essential workforce who hardly get any credit.
🎧 Unsung Cleaners is a podcast by UNI Europa, co-funded by the European Commission. The show is produced by Seden Anlar. Interviews and narration by Gail Rego. Project coordination and interpretation by Alessia Mora and Mark Bergfeld. Special thanks to all the cleaners and union organisers who shared their stories as well as dubbers Seden Anlar, Alessia Mora and Alessandra Giannessi.
UK