Reader’s letter This is a debate entry, written by an external contributor. The post expresses the writer’s views.
Today is 1 May, and the country is marking and celebrating International Workers’ Day. Happy birthday everyone.
We know the history well. From when the American police shot four demonstrators in Chicago in 1886, up through the hard thirties, tough roofs during the great world wars to international solidarity and anti-militarism. The labor movement has stood at the forefront and fought for rights that are reaping the benefits of today. We should all give a thought and give a well-deserved thanks to those who have walked the path before us.
But now it is our turn to tread the ground and keep the paths open for those who come after us. As it is called; “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
And I hope we are prepared, because there is no shortage of issues to get involved. Every day we are met with profoundly tragic images from the completely insane warfare in Gaza, the Russian abuses in Ukraine, the enormous humanitarian crisis in Yemen, political repression in Myanmar, dictatorship in North Korea, the health crisis in Venezuela, the attack on women and workers’ rights in the United States and the threat to the education systems of the world. And above all this lies the biggest challenge of them all, the climate and environmental crisis which is already hitting large parts of the world’s population hard.
Here at home, we are spared the worst of these events. That position nevertheless only reinforces the responsibility we have in the fight against oppression, in the fight for workers’ rights and in the fight for international solidarity and peace.
So things are far from rosy in the interior. Seen from our side, we are facing what must be described as an erosion of the welfare state and the public safety net that those who went before us have built up. Our members in kindergartens, schools, in the support systems and within the university and college sector tell of very serious cases in both the municipal, state and private sectors. It is almost predatory on the most important resource we have, those who work in the education sector. Severe underfunding of the public welfare services results in high levels of sickness absence, lack of staffing, skills flight, an uncertain working environment and managers without the opportunity to fulfill the social mandate.
Recently, SINTEF published a report on “Relational and emotional demands and pressures in work,” in which they state that the challenges for people who work with people are twofold. On the one hand, many people find that working with children and young people gives a lot of positive energy and commitment, while at the same time many feel the emotional burden of not reaching out or having good enough conditions to do their job.
The question Uddanningsforbundet Innlandet asks is how long we can tolerate the lack of connection between requirements and resources. We are very concerned about whether we will be able to maintain the expected quality if the education sector, and I would like to add the entire welfare system, is not prioritized in a completely different way to what is currently the case. Changes in kindergarten and school structure can easily be hidden behind a thought about stronger subject environments or the hope that the quality will improve, but the truth is that this is mainly financially motivated.
Thus we end up with a fundamental problem; how long will we have to put up with absolutely essential social services being underfunded? The knitting is stretched far enough. If we are to manage to ensure safety and quality in the welfare services, we must now say that enough is enough.
Thore Johan Nærbøecounty manager of the Finnish Education Association
