ABSTRACT
The largest single group of workers in the former NBB were the cleaners, almost all of whom were women. Actually the cleaners were even presented as a cause for closing down the NBB: ‘the state should not worry about cleaning’. The high number of cleaners among the ‘civil servants’ was also singled out with the derogatory remark that ‘the NBB had become just a National Board of Cleaning’. The cleaners’ salaries and other benefits like seniority bonuses, occupational health service, and permanent employment were so ‘good’ that cleaning did not ‘compete well’. From a cleaner’s point of view it was a good thing to work for the state, if cleaning was how you made your living. Many of the cleaners who worked for the former NBB had had previous jobs in various areas of industry, such as factories or dressmaking departments. In other words they were familiar with infrequent working hours, uncertainty of employment and low salaries; the NBB was an improvement compared to their previous jobs.
