residential care worker | special needs support worker | residential childcare worker | residential home children care worker

older adult services worker | support worker (older adults in care) | residential home older adult care worker | residential support worker

disability support assistant | disability support carer | disability care worker | disability support worker

Four areas are worth highlighting in this context: 1) lifelong learning collective agreements in Belgium, Finland, Germany (metalworking industry in Baden-Württemberg), Italy and Portugal; 2) equal opportunities aiming at reducing gender pay inequalities (Belgium, Finland, Netherlands and Ireland), at combating race discrimination (France, Denmark and Ireland), at increasing employment of disabled persons (Belgium Italy and Ireland) and at preventing age discrimination (Denmark and Austria); 3) health and safety at work collective agreements on the prevention and treatment of stress (Belgium) on well-being and psychological work environment (Denmark) and against the excessive workload (the Netherlands); 4) flexibility and work-life balan ...[+++]ce collective agreements on parental leave (Sweden), on family leave and family-linked working time patterns (Belgium, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands), on sabbaticals (Finland), on childcare arrangements (Greece, Ireland and the Netherlands), on flexitime and teleworking (Italy, Austria, and Denmark) and on temporary agency workers (Italy and Germany).

Stresses the importance of promoting the professional recognition of the skills and qualifications of domestic workers and carers in this sector in order to provide them with more prospects for professional development, as well as specific training for individuals working with elderly people and children, with a view to fostering the creation of quality jobs leading to quality employment and better working conditions, including the provision of formal contracts, access to training and better social recognition; recognises the importance of ensuring the validation and certification of acquired skills, qualifications and experience and pr ...[+++]omoting career development; considers the establishment of training and retraining courses to be of fundamental importance in order to achieve this.

Calls on the Member States to organise campaigns to improve visibility and enhance understanding of the benefits of regularised domestic work and care among the general public and private bodies, with a view to dignifying the profession and gaining recognition for the important work and contribution of women domestic and care workers to the functioning of society; at the same time, calls on the Member States to raise awareness of the existence of severe ...[+++] exploitation in private households by setting the goal of zero tolerance of exploitation of such workers.

The EU needs to adopt a specific programme to ensure that children with disabilities have access to all environments and aspects of life.