In a document recently sent to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Training, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL) requested the two ministries to study, evaluate, and decide to add the job of "cooking for public kindergartens with 100 meals or more" to the list of arduous, toxic, and dangerous jobs.
The above proposal of the agency representing workers is based on the application of the caretakers currently working at public kindergartens in Hanoi.
In addition, through research, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor found that currently, cooking for 100 or more servings is only recognized as a heavy, hazardous and toxic job when it takes place in "restaurants, hotels, collective kitchens" and in the field.
Accordingly, the cooking work of nursing staff at public kindergartens is not included in the list of heavy, toxic, and dangerous jobs.
Compared to “cooking in restaurants, hotels, and collective kitchens with 100 or more meals” in the tourism sector, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor found that the cooking work of catering staff has many similarities. For example, cooking in large quantities, working conditions are even more difficult due to limited staff, limited facilities, and often having to work outdoors in harsh weather.
“However, with similar characteristics, public work has not been recognized as a profession, a hard, toxic, dangerous job…” - the General Confederation of Labor argued.
Workers' representatives also said that due to the specific nature of preschool education, it can be seen that educating children in class and caring for and nurturing children are two important, parallel and inseparable tasks.
Along with the work of teaching children, cooking ensures nutrition, taste, safety requirements, food hygiene directly affects the physical development and safety of children. Therefore, the work of nursing staff needs to be concerned with implementing reasonable policies.
In addition, the salaries of caregivers are currently quite low and generally do not compensate for the potential risks that affect their health, mental health, and ability to work.
"Therefore, including the above group of people in the list of arduous, toxic, and dangerous jobs will ensure the rights of workers..." - Vietnam General Confederation of Labor stated its opinion.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thom (residing in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi) said that she has been working as a cook at a kindergarten for 5 years and every day she has to prepare 200-500 meals. Their working conditions are relatively cramped and have many potential risks, which can easily affect their health and ability to work.
Specifically, women have to be exposed to humidity, high temperatures, loud noises, constrained working postures, regularly work with equipment that can easily cause accidents, and are affected by cleaning chemicals....
“With the heavy work as mentioned above, many employees have had accidents and suffered permanent disabilities while working…” - Ms. Thom said.
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