Copenhagen pre-schools have been hit by strikes today, with some 330 institutions affected and shop stewards meeting this morning to decide their next step in a conflict about budgetary constraints.

”As a union we can only urge staff to go back to work, but on the other hand we understand their great frustration regarding economic conditions at pre-schools,” says National Association of Social Workers Deputy Chairman Jan Hoby who has called on Frank Jensen, the Social Democratic candidate for Lord Mayor, to help find a solution.

Hoby says that the parties that have entered into an agreement on Copenhagen’s budget are the ones who should find a solution.

”I have a feeling that the parties will now say that they cannot find a solution until after the local elections in a week’s time. So it would be sensible if the Social Democratic candidate for Lord Mayor, Frank Jensen, gives a clear indication as to how he thinks the situation can be resolved,” Hoby says, adding that one solution could be a combination of increased parental contributions and administrative savings.

”The only area in which savings must not be introduced is the core service – the relation between the child and the adult. Copenhagen Council is over-administered and large amounts are spent on consultants and we suggest that it is here that some of the savings are to be found,” Hoby says.

Pre-school staff are striking in protest against council plans to save DKK 47.7 million by removing what is known as the Compensation Fund – funds apportioned to older childcare institutions where, for example, children need to be accompanied across roads in order to reach playgrounds.