The case summed up Many kindergarten workers have to pay for work clothes out of their own pockets, which they believe is unfair compared to other professional groups. Kindergarten workers in Fauske only get NOK 1,500 a year to buy the clothes they need, which is far from enough. The municipality has promised to look into giving more allowances for clothing, but the Education Association warns that they have said so before. In private nurseries in the municipality, they are given a package of clothes when they start, and the nursery buys new ones if the old ones wear out. The Education Association believes that the municipality should make every effort, and will work to ensure that this becomes a reality in the future. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. While wardens, the park service and technical services in the municipality get the work clothes they need, many kindergarten workers have to pay mostly out of their own pockets. – Unfair, says Amalie Bråten (33), who is a kindergarten teacher at Erikstad kindergarten in Fauske in Nordland. The nursery staff often have to get down on their knees or up on the tree when they are at work. Therefore, their clothes often get worn out. Nevertheless, they only get to add NOK 1,500 a year to new clothes. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news But the municipality has been on the Robek list for years, and is finally getting its budget balanced. The head of schools and early childhood education understands the irritation from the kindergarten workers, and promises to look into giving more allowances to the children soon. The local education union believes that the reason why the municipality will soon break even is precisely because they have just cut the item for work clothes for kindergarten employees from the budget. They and Labor party politicians believe that the municipalities should pay out. – NOK 1,500 didn’t go far Tillitsvalt and pedagogue Amalie Bråten is out playing with the children at Erikstad kindergarten in Fauske. – One does the same as the kids. There will be crawling on your knees and climbing trees. Then it’s clear that our clothes quickly wear out and we often have to buy new ones, she says. Nevertheless, she and her colleagues only get NOK 1,500 a year to buy the clothes they need. She thinks that is far from enough. Amalie Bråten says that they often have to have two sets of outdoor clothes: – The clothes smell of fire and there is often mud or caviar residue on them, so it is not so common to want to use the clothes privately as well. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news – It didn’t last long. You are lucky if you get a pair of trousers, a jacket or a pair of shoes. In the last ten years, she does not dare to think about how much she has used from her own wallet to fill her wardrobe at work. – I only have to use my own money. It’s my job to be out with the kids, so I have to be dressed for it. In northern Norway, it can be both cold and wet for large parts of the year. At Erikstad kindergarten, they still try to be outside as much as they can during the year. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news The nursery profession is quite alone in having to look up from a private wallet, Bråten believes. – I don’t think it’s right. The profession has been under-prioritised before, perhaps because it is a female-dominated profession? The male-dominated professions are better at saying when they need new trousers, she says and adds: – Imagine if fishermen or industrial workers had to do the same. The trade union on the matter: – An injustice that must be rectified – There is great variation in what different employees receive in different municipalities. It’s a bit of a challenge here, says Mette Nord, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions. In some municipalities, different sums are given linked to the vacancy rate, among other things. Others are given something. But in all municipalities in the technical sector dressed up from head to toe. – Now it is time to do something about it. This should be an obvious requirement and a matter of course linked to health, environment and safety. The union leader believes it is a matter of a gender-based culture in a male-dominated profession when everything is in place, while one expects that a female-dominated profession pays for itself. In addition, Nord believes there has been an under-communicated need until now in the nursery sector. – Here is an injustice that must be rectified. The union leader believes that the reason why this is now being addressed is a snowy winter in southern and eastern Norway last year. Then many people became aware of how big a difference there was between municipal employees. – Why is this not part of central, and not just local, agreements? – It has been organized a little differently, but now it has been pointed out how unfair it is with local decisions. We must therefore bring this up to a higher level, so that it is reflected in the municipal economy going forward, says Nord. In other words, the trade union will work to ensure that work clothes for kindergarten employees become part of the Working Environment Act, so that all municipalities must provide this to their employees. Different private and public But not all kindergarten employees in the municipality lack work clothes. Just a short drive away from Erikstad kindergarten is Medås farm kindergarten. It is part of Læringsverkstedet’s kindergartens and is therefore private. Jim Frode Hansen, who is the director of the Medås learning workshop farm nursery, gives his employees, among other things, winter dressers, rain gear and outer jackets with the nursery’s logo on them. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news – Here, new hires get a package of clothes when they start. Roughly speaking, we spend around NOK 4–5,000 on it per child, says director of the nursery, Jim Frode Hansen. His employees therefore do not receive a sum a year. Instead, the nursery buys new ones if the old ones wear out. The outerwear will also remain in the nursery if the employees leave. At both Erikstad kindergarten and Medås farm nursery Læringsverkstedet, the staff believe that it is crucial that they can be with the children up and down for them to thrive. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news – Why do they think that the company and not the employees should bear this expense? – You have to wear work clothes when you have to do a job. The employees should not put a limit on when we can go on a trip and not for example. The Education Association: – Taken away with a stroke of the pen Anita Helgesen, leader of the Education Association at Fauske, thinks it is wrong that the uniformed kindergarten employees need not be prioritized by the municipality. – It is important that they enjoy their job. It doesn’t matter if you freeze or don’t have the equipment you need. Anita Helgesen, head of the Education Association in Fauske municipality, says it is very good that the private kindergartens have a solution for work clothes. She wants to work to ensure that municipal nurseries also get it. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news Helgesen says that there is already a proposal in the municipality to give the employees the clothes they need. – It was taken away at the first stroke of the pen in order for the budget to balance. What municipalities should spend on clothing for kindergarten staff can vary from nothing to NOK 7,000, according to a survey carried out by Utdanningsnytt. The Working Environment Act has so far no requirements for employees to be provided with work clothes. Therefore, it is now up to local negotiations to determine how much kindergarten staff get to buy clothes for. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news The Working Environment Act does not say anything concrete about work clothes. Today, work clothes for employees in the municipalities are regulated in a special agreement with the municipalities’ employer organization KS. It states that “the need is determined by the parties locally”. The Education Association on the matter: – Unheard of – Although there may be different needs, the differences should not be so great. That’s what the first deputy head of the Swedish Education Association, Ann Mari Milo Lorentzen, says. Kindergarten teachers have a right to work clothes, whether clothes are available at work or a clothing allowance. It is determined in a central agreement between KS and the employee organisations, including the Education Confederation. It is when one has to negotiate locally how it should be resolved locally that the differences arise. – It is unheard of. You cannot put employees in a situation where they experience taking from the children, if they demand their rights as employees, says Lorentzen. She believes that the municipalities must take the responsibility they have, and ensure that employees are issued with work clothes as needed. Then the deputy leader says it would have been helpful if there had been a statutory regulation. – If the agreements are not adhered to, stricter requirements must be made. The municipality: – Recognizes different practices But for the municipality it is not so easy to do something about this, according to Hans Fredrik Sørdal, municipal manager for upbringing and education in Fauske municipality. – We recognize that challenge, and through the budget work we have worked to find solutions to this, he says. But the municipality has been low on the Robek list for years. Only now do they look the same. According to Sørdal, it was then not possible to prioritize work clothes in this budget. Hans Fredrik Sørdal, municipal manager for upbringing and education in Fauske municipality, promises that they will look at the subsidy or work clothes in the kindergarten from time to time. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news – Technical services in the municipality get work clothes, why is there a difference between them and kindergarten staff? – We recognize that it is a different practice. It is part of what we are going to work on now together with the vocational training in order to find a perfect solution for the employees in the nursery. Want work clothes for the workplace Kindergarten assistant Amalie Bråten thinks the optimal thing would be to have one needed for work, in the municipal sector as well as in the private sector. – It’s the same profession in the same municipality. Now it’s a bit unfair in a way. – There is no point in getting off the Robek list earlier than first thought, if the residents of the municipality are not doing well during the period they are saving, says Amalie Bråten about the priorities of the politicians in Fauske. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news Helgesen in the Education Association will work for such a future in Fauske municipality. – An employment agreement with work clothes would be the best for everyone. And if the health politicians in the Labor Party get their way, paid work clothes for kindergarten staff could become the future for even more. The program committee of the Labor Party has proposed that work clothes be covered by the Working Environment Act following input from Truls Vasvik (Ap), who sits on the health and care committee at the Storting. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news – It is a fundamental injustice that we want to correct, says politician Truls Vasvik (Ap), who sits on the health and care committee in the Storting. He will look at the possibility of introducing a requirement that the correct work clothes are covered by the employer in the Working Environment Act. It will be discussed at next year’s national meeting. – Here we see large gender differences between professions. You can’t have it like this, says Mette Nord, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions. Photo: Peder Bergholt / news The trade union organizes around 30,000 kindergarten employees across the country. – It is a difference which we believe is bloody unfair, says Mette Nord, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions. That is why Fagforbundet no is also working to ensure that work clothes for kindergarten staff become part of the Working Environment Act. Published 15.11.2024, at 21.47 Updated 15.11.2024, at 22.45
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Kindergarten employees react to the fact that they have to pay for their work clothes themselves – news Nordland
