Our View: State nurses and teachers feel duty bound to exploit the pandemic

On the day primary school teachers held a one-hour work stoppage because they were not satisfied with the government’s response to their demand for full-time replacement staff, nursing unions of public hospitals threatened ‘dynamic measures’ if staff shortages in ICUs were not tackled immediately.

Public sector unions have decided to exploit the special circumstances caused by the pandemic to increase their numbers, which would probably mean less work for their members in the near future – perhaps more free-periods for teachers and fewer afternoon or evening shifts for nurses.

The members of the public sector unions cannot be expected to put in a little extra effort to help the country out during the pandemic. The primary teachers’ union Poed staged its stoppage because it wanted full-time replacement staff. It could not possibly ask its members to give up some of the free periods they enjoy to help out, while many of their colleagues are home because they may have tested positive, may have been contacts or were looking after children that tested positive. Poed’s justification for the demand was that understaffing compromised safety.

In public hospitals the unions want more staff hired, because there were not enough nurses for ICU2 (Covid-2) at the Nicosia general hospital and nurses were having to do double shifts which were taking their toll. Again, the reason for the low staffing was that many nurses were at home either because they had tested positive or were close contacts, or had children that tested positive to look after. Should we also mention the ease with which public employees are given sick leave, as evidenced in the first wave of Covid-19, when public hospitals were understaffed because of the record number of those on sick leave?

Nobody challenges the irrationality of the union demands for fear of alienating them. For instance, what will the state do with the full-time replacement teachers it will have hired, once the pandemic is over? Even if employment is on short-term contracts, why should the state increase its payroll so that teachers do not have to do a few hours extra work per week?

The irrationality is even greater in the case of hospitals. There is no pool of unemployed nurses that can be hired for a few months as cover. Nurses would have to be hired on a full-time basis otherwise they would not leave their jobs at private hospitals even though pay is lower and the work more demanding. What would happen after the pandemic is over and all public hospital nurses return to work? Would nurses work a four-day week because there would be too many of them, while still being on overtime pay for afternoon work?

The selfishness of the public sector unions is appalling. Even when the country is going through a health crisis, they cannot instruct their members to help out by doing a little bit more. They feel duty-bound to exploit the situation, because the privileged working life of their members cannot be compromised, not even for the good of the country.