Immigration Minister tries her hand at hotel cleaning
Министр иммиграции Финляндии Астрид Торс попробовала поработать гостиничной уборщицей. Её удивило, как мало среди уборщиков коренных финнов.
It took Astrid Thors one hour to clean a room in Hotel Pasila.
Astrid Thors surprised at how few cleaners are native-born Finns
By Riku Jokinen
The minister is talking to a toilet bowl.
“You aren’t from the absolutely worst end”, Astrid Thors, says, shaking the toilet brush.
Thors has learned that in cleaning, one is always supposed to move from the cleanest to the dirtiest places. When cleaning the toilet bowl, the water tank is wiped off first, then the seat, and finally the bowl itself.
“Sometimes it takes character”, Thors says.
Helsingin Sanomat and Radio Helsinki challenged Thors to see what it is like cleaning in a multicultural working community.
The Sokos Hotel in Pasila has 12 cleaners, only one of whom is a native-born Finn.
“It is surprising”, Thors says.
Aila Forsström of the cleaning company Sol, says that 80 per cent of the 550 cleaners employed in her district have foreign backgrounds.
The cleaners include engineers, PhDs, , kindergarten teachers, bookeepers, teachers, dental nurses, interpreters, and one ballerina.
Thors ponders what is wrong in employment efforts: getting training mainly means sitting on courses. There is a tendency in Finland to look down on degrees from abroad, and language requirements are unreasonable.
She sees a danger that a two-tier labour market might be emerging - if it has not come about already.
“It’s all about attitude”, the minister says.
Thors notes that no miracle cure seems to exist. Pentti Arajärvi reportedly has a study underway, as does Raimo Sailas.
Well, there’s nothing wrong with sitting on committees and drawing up reports, but now this hotel needs to be cleaned - or at least the lobby and a couple of rooms.
Thors’s boss at the hotel is Vukosava Dujmovic, originally from the former Yugoslavia, who is a textile engineer by training, and who has worked in cleaning for five years.
Dujmovic shows Thors the colour codes. Red cloths are used for cleaning the dirtiest places, such as the toilet bowl. The yellow is for the sink, and the blue is for furniture.
Sheets, towels, and pillowcases are changed. Shampoo bottles and the minibar are filled. The floor is vacuumed.
Then the blanket is turned down to form a triangle. “This is to create a real hotel feeling”, Thors says.
It takes her an hour to clean one room. For a professional it takes 15 to 30 minutes.
However, if room number 712 appears to be inadequately cleaned, complaints this time can be sent directly to Immigration Minister Thors.
Helsingin Sanomat / Published in print 8.10.2008
Photo: HEIDI PIIROINEN / HS
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Immigration+Minister+tries+her+hand+at+hotel+cleaning/1135240242968
It took Astrid Thors one hour to clean a room in Hotel Pasila.
Astrid Thors surprised at how few cleaners are native-born Finns
By Riku Jokinen
The minister is talking to a toilet bowl.
“You aren’t from the absolutely worst end”, Astrid Thors, says, shaking the toilet brush.
Thors has learned that in cleaning, one is always supposed to move from the cleanest to the dirtiest places. When cleaning the toilet bowl, the water tank is wiped off first, then the seat, and finally the bowl itself.
“Sometimes it takes character”, Thors says.
Helsingin Sanomat and Radio Helsinki challenged Thors to see what it is like cleaning in a multicultural working community.
The Sokos Hotel in Pasila has 12 cleaners, only one of whom is a native-born Finn.
“It is surprising”, Thors says.
Aila Forsström of the cleaning company Sol, says that 80 per cent of the 550 cleaners employed in her district have foreign backgrounds.
The cleaners include engineers, PhDs, , kindergarten teachers, bookeepers, teachers, dental nurses, interpreters, and one ballerina.
Thors ponders what is wrong in employment efforts: getting training mainly means sitting on courses. There is a tendency in Finland to look down on degrees from abroad, and language requirements are unreasonable.
She sees a danger that a two-tier labour market might be emerging - if it has not come about already.
“It’s all about attitude”, the minister says.
Thors notes that no miracle cure seems to exist. Pentti Arajärvi reportedly has a study underway, as does Raimo Sailas.
Well, there’s nothing wrong with sitting on committees and drawing up reports, but now this hotel needs to be cleaned - or at least the lobby and a couple of rooms.
Thors’s boss at the hotel is Vukosava Dujmovic, originally from the former Yugoslavia, who is a textile engineer by training, and who has worked in cleaning for five years.
Dujmovic shows Thors the colour codes. Red cloths are used for cleaning the dirtiest places, such as the toilet bowl. The yellow is for the sink, and the blue is for furniture.
Sheets, towels, and pillowcases are changed. Shampoo bottles and the minibar are filled. The floor is vacuumed.
Then the blanket is turned down to form a triangle. “This is to create a real hotel feeling”, Thors says.
It takes her an hour to clean one room. For a professional it takes 15 to 30 minutes.
However, if room number 712 appears to be inadequately cleaned, complaints this time can be sent directly to Immigration Minister Thors.
Helsingin Sanomat / Published in print 8.10.2008
Photo: HEIDI PIIROINEN / HS
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Immigration+Minister+tries+her+hand+at+hotel+cleaning/1135240242968