Workers at the Department of Internal Cleanliness at Larnaca General Hospital are planning to take strike action due to understaffing.
In their statement, the unions PASYEK-PEO and OEKDY-SEK stated that on Thursday, February 15th, a General Assembly will be held at Larnaca General Hospital for “discussion and possibly a decision on taking strike action”.
According to the statement, “the decision of the PASTEK-PEO and OEKDY-SEK unions to convene general assemblies is a result of the reluctance of the Ministry of Health to take into account the concerns and continuous appeals of the workers for dialogue aimed at discussing and reaching an agreement on the staffing of Larnaca General Hospital with hourly staff, primarily in the Department of Internal Cleanliness.”
It is further added that “the expansions at Larnaca General Hospital were completed in 2020 with the delivery and operation of a new wing, which houses the physiotherapy department, outpatient clinics, the dialysis unit, the blood station, and the blood bank. Despite the continuous interventions of the Trade Unions regarding the need for staffing the new wing with a sufficient number of hourly workers, the Ministry of Health proceeded with the hiring of a very small number of cleaners, which is not sufficient even for the basic tasks being carried out.”
According to the unions, “the workload undertaken daily by the workers, combined with the refusal of the Organization to approve rest breaks in the Department of Internal Cleanliness of Larnaca Hospital, forces us to discuss and possibly take strong reactive measures.”
The unions call on “at least the Central Administration of the Ministry of Health and the Larnaca-Famagusta Directorate to take into account the longstanding representations of the workers for the hiring of staff and to stop viewing hourly workers as the last cog in the wheel.”