Hospital workers to hold work stoppage on Friday 8 December
CORFU. Statement from the Union of Corfu Hospital Employees and the Corfu Hospital Psychiatric Department Employees Union.
The Union of Corfu Hospital Employees and the Corfu Hospital Psychiatric Department Employees Union informed with a statement that they will hold a work stoppage on Friday 8 December from 10:00 to 15:00. They will also gather at the hospital entrance at 10:30.
Statement from the Unions:
ENOUGH WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S MOCKERY. ALL CONTRACT WORKERS MUST BE MADE PERMANENT NOW!
WORK STOPPAGE ON FRIDAY 8 DECEMBER, 10:00 - 15:00.
Protest at the hospital entrance at 10:30.
The ND government continues to mock thousands of contract workers who have been filling the huge gaps in public health facilities for years.
In the bill of the Ministry of Economy and Finance that was given for consultation, there are provisions for contract workers! The auxiliary staff are renewed for six months, the nursing residents for two months (without being included in the auxiliary staff), the colleagues who came to replace the unvaccinated ones for three months and the 6,000 fixed-term contracts in the cleaning, security and catering services for three months, while at the same time the tenders for contractors continue.
In the public health structures of our area, flexible working relations of all kinds are being extended, as in the whole country. They have been working all these years side by side with the permanent staff in adverse conditions due to the great shortages, having the same qualifications and the same obligations but less rights. However, they constantly feel insecure for their working future! Especially in the years of the pandemic, they covered important needs by filling a significant part of the large staff gaps of all specialities.
All these colleagues are NOT assisting the permanent staff for emergency needs, but each and every one of them and all together cover PERMANENT, CONSTANT, URGENT and INCREASING NEEDS!!!
In fact, most of them have been working from 3 to 7 years and have accumulated valuable work experience that should not be lost! Their contracts have been and are being extended because without them the hospital, the health centres and EKAB cannot operate but it is the government's choice to keep changing the working relations with cheap and expendable employees to serve the hospitals.
WE DO NOT FORGET the mockery of government officials and the Prime Minister himself who during the pandemic called on health workers to leave other jobs to strengthen the public health system as contract workers so that it would not collapse... and promised to make them permanent as recognition of their contribution!
We know that the extension of flexible working relations is an implementation of the strategy to 'strike down' permanent positions and together with the staff shortages, they are part of the plan to operate public facilities on private economic criteria! Proof is the adoption of article 242 of Law 4512/2018 by the SYRIZA government which "prohibits the conversion of contracts to ones with indefinite duration", as well as the rejection by SYRIZA, ND and PASOK of the proposal of hundreds of unions and federations for the permanent status of all contract workers by amending article 103 of the Constitution.
The struggle for permanent and stable jobs must become a matter of the workers themselves and be supported by the patients and the people!
We DEMAND the immediate renewal of the contracts of all contract workers in public health facilities for at least one year and with a legislative regulation to make them permanent with full labour and wage rights."
Archive photo
VASSILIS PANTAZOPOULOS
