The Welfare Agency in Oslo, which is one of those that supports the organization financially, states in a document that it is a labor conflict within the organization. From notifications that news has seen, it appears that there are several employees who are in conflict with manager Nasreen Begum. HSE work in the organisation, employment contracts, overtime pay, management behavior and workload are among the recurring themes. Oslo municipality: “Seriously considering that it is now notified again” Both the Welfare Agency in Oslo municipality and the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority have had meetings with the management just before the summer holidays. In June, the Welfare Agency wrote that the labor dispute is “unfortunate for both employees and employer, and may also in the long run have consequences for the quality of the professional work done in the organisation. The welfare agency received a notification about conditions in the organization in February 2021 and takes a serious view that more of the same conditions are now being notified again”. Begum: The notifications are taken very seriously Nasreen Begum writes in an e-mail to news that “We can confirm that there have been notifications which the management and the board have dealt with. Bodelsmødre Norway considers it positive that the employees speak up and that the notifications are taken with the utmost seriousness. We do not want to comment on the details of the notifications, but we feel that Bydelsmødre Norway is well on its way to resolving in a positive way all the matters that have been notified”. Bydelsmødre Norway is a non-profit organization based on voluntary work, started by Nasreen Begum in 2016. So far, voluntary Bydelsmødre groups have been established in eight districts of Oslo and in six municipalities. The district mothers worked with corona information in immigrant districts during the pandemic. The aim was, among other things, to get immigrants to take the vaccine. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / Eskil Wie Furunes District mothers are made up of volunteer women, primarily from an ethnic minority background, who have gone through a training program on topics such as family, health and society. “After completing training, they go out as visible and safe bridge builders between the public sector and their local communities”, it says on the website. The leader and initiator of Bydelsmødre, Nasreen Begum, received the St. Hallvard medal last year, for her work for inclusion. Oslo’s mayor was responsible for presenting the medal. Received support instead of Born Free District mothers received a place in the state budget in 2021, where they received one million kroner in support through the scheme “Subsidies for national resource environments in the field of integration”. The district mothers entered the state budget after the organization Født Fri and its leader Shabana Rehman lost state support due to what IMDi believed to be clear and systematic violations of the conditions for grants. It is IMDi, the Directorate of Integration and Welfare, which manages the support from the state. IMDi confirms to news that they have also received anonymous notifications at Bydelsmødrene, IMDi writes that they have taken the notifications seriously. “So far, we have not uncovered a breach of funds, but there are still a number of investigations before we can come to a conclusion in the matter,” writes IMDi in an SMS to news. Oslo municipality is giving NOK 2.7 million to City Mothers this year. Oslo City Councilor Rina Mariann Hansen writes to news that “We have received a notification from the City Mothers. The notice is processed in line with current practice in the municipality and through the Welfare Agency as grant administrator. The agency will report back to me about its assessment of the case in mid-September.” Order to clean up from the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority inspected the District Mothers on 3 June this year. The topics were employment agreements, registration of working hours and overtime, safety representatives and cooperation on the working environment, management and systematic HSE work. Section leader Ida Aagaard writes in an e-mail to news that Bodelsmødre has received orders to put in place systematic HSE work, and to obtain assistance in working with the orders, for example from an approved occupational health service. They must also put in place safety representatives, and training for safety representatives. Orders relating to working hours were also notified, i.e. an overview of working hours and remuneration for overtime, “but the business complied with this before a decision on the order was made”, writes the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority.
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Alerts against the immigrant organization Bydelsmødre – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
