HALDEN (Halden Arbeiderblad): It is 17 bright blue degrees Celsius. Around 50 home nurses meet Halden Arbeiderblad in the car park behind Helsehuset in Os allé on Friday afternoon. It has not been difficult to mobilize the employees to promote the message they now have:
– We freeze at work
– We freeze at work. We are required to show up in uniform clothes, and the only clothes we have been given is a light blue fleece jacket. It really doesn’t last when it’s as cold as now. For several years we have been asking to at least get a warm bubble jacket, but we are not heard. We also need warm shoes. The counterargument is that the municipality must once again save money.
That’s what Charlotte Simensen, Ine Eriksen, Maria Bompari, Stine Aadahl (Fagforbundet), Renate Karlsen (Fagforbundet), Elin Fallås and Kristin Økern (Norwegian Nurses’ Association) say.
They are all shop stewards or protection representatives within the different geographical sectors of the Home Service in Halden municipality.
Enough. They are angry and saddened by the feeling of not being heard with wishes they believe are perfectly legitimate.
Read director of health and coping Kent Arne Andreassen’s response to the criticism further down in the article.
– Frustration increases
– We have approached the Working Environment Committee about the matter, but have not received a reply. We have taken the official route, and know that the mayor is informed of our wishes. The answers have been the same; No. Because of the economy, says the frustrated light blue-clad shop stewards who meet HA.
– When so many employees freeze in double-digit minus degrees at work, and the electric cars stop and get stuck on impassable roads in the municipality’s pig-ridden areas, then the frustration increases. And the sick leave. We are absolutely sure that a warm bubble jacket will make the working day better. And that it will pay off, they tell HA.
Costs approximately DKK 300.00
– Do you not understand that the health sector has to save and cannot prioritize this?
– We have always been loyal and followed up on orders. But this is small money that the municipality will experience will pay off. We have approximately 300 permanent employees who work out in the field. A jacket for each will cost the municipality approximately NOK 300,000. It is considerably less than what the municipality paid, for example, in the severance package to our former chief executive, say the shop stewards and chief safety representatives in the Trade Union laconically.
And they add: – Had this been a male-dominated job, we are sure that the municipality would have bought warm enough work clothes. Just look at the clothes the “guys in tech” wear now. Everything is in order there, say the shop stewards in the Trade Union.
They also know that the colleagues in the neighboring municipality of Sarpsborg get both shoes, woolen underwear and bubble jackets from the municipality.
– Can’t you use private warm jackets?
– Many are reluctant to do so. Or won’t. Remember that we visit many different homes. In many places there is infection in the house. We don’t want to wear private clothes then. The regulations also state that we must wear work clothes. It is in the municipality’s interest to equip ourselves well and correctly, they say.
Signature campaign
The employees have started a signature campaign with great support. It has so far had no effect.
– To feel opposed as we do now is demoralizing. At our institutions there is a cap on the number of places. In the home service, we must at all times deal with everyone who needs our services. Then it sometimes becomes very hectic when the need increases, and it becomes difficult to get there on time. Remember that many elderly people live in remote areas. In several places we have to wade in snow because it has not been shoveled. Then it will be wrong to have to freeze at work as we do now.
Says shop stewards and protection representatives in the home service in Halden municipality.
– Do a great job!
Kent-Arne Andreassen is director of health and coping in Halden municipality. He does not answer HA’s own questions, but chooses to send his reply in an e-mail:
– First of all, I would like to praise the employees in the home service for the great job they do every day. In a period with a lot of snow, ice and cold, users and patients must be followed up – that this can be demanding, it is easy to understand, but this is done in a very good way.
I understand that the question of warm clothing comes up now, and we as employers must make sure that good processes are carried out when questions like this arise. Such a process has already been started, he writes.
– Invited to a meeting
– At the very beginning of November, I was sent a signature campaign where people wanted shoes and clothes to use during working hours in the home care service. The sender of the e-mail was 5 safety representatives.
– I responded to their inquiry and invited them to a meeting. This meeting was held on 16 November. In the meeting, they talked about the situation they experienced, and they said that they wanted the employer to buy shoes and clothes for all employees in the home care.
– In conclusion, we agreed that we should look into the matter, and that they should receive feedback. In mid-December, feedback was given to those who took part in the meeting, that the director of the municipality will raise a matter in his meeting with the main shop stewards, a matter which deals with clothing allowances for employees.
– The case was raised before the Christmas holidays and after agreement with HTV, a process has now been initiated to look into this further. It is therefore not the case that a final decision has been made, but on the contrary a process has been started which will look into this. This will be looked at for all employees in the municipality, he writes in the email.
– Costs DKK 500,000
– It probably differs from municipality to municipality which schemes and solutions can be offered to employees in the home services. It is important to state that even though all employees received a fleece jacket, it was probably never intended that this should be a uniform, or the only clothing. This means that employees are of course free to put on their private winter jacket and winter shoes.
– It is also important to show that employees have infection control equipment available when there is a need for it. In the municipality, employees who do the main part of their work outdoors will have access to normal work clothes. The home service mainly works indoors and thus does not come under such an arrangement. I would also like to add that the costs of shoes and clothing will amount to a much higher amount than what is outlined here. One has previously looked at the cost of buying in a jacket for all employees in the home service, and this amounts to around NOK 500,000, writes Andreassen.
2024-01-08 21:18:41
#Home #nurses #rage #Bubble #jacket #requirements #met #icy #shoulder
