Eleventh-hour meeting fails to prevent strike at hospital (updated)

A doctors and nurses strike at all state hospitals will go ahead on Wednesday after an eleventh-hour meeting between the state health services organisation (Okypy) and trade union representatives failed to reach agreement.

The unions released a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon confirming that all employees of Okypy will engage in an eight-hour strike between 7am and 3pm.

Speaking after the meeting, Peo trade union representative Nikos Gregoriou described Okypy’s last-minute offer as “reheated food” and “a variation of the same proposal they have been making for the last few years.

“This cannot be tolerated, and they know it,” he added.

He said the meeting was organised by Okypy as a “PR stunt”, and added “they have known for a month that we would go on strike, we had announced it and they waited until the last minute to repeat to us that they do not accept that we have a collective agreement with defined working conditions similar to those which apply to the wider public sector.”

Okypy again called on the unions to suspend the strike, underlining its commitment to conclude a collective agreement within the framework of legislation and regulations that govern it.

It proposed a collective agreement “with a guaranteed rate of increase to all staff each year, in addition to the indexation allowance, and an additional annual increase without a salary ceiling, resulting from the achievement of its objectives and individual evaluations”.

This, it said, satisfies long-standing demands of workers and “ensures their future professional safety”.

An earlier statement signed by unions said staff were “determined, united and mobilised” for the strike.

The unions are seeking pay raises for staff hired on individual contracts and recruitment to cover permanent needs in medical, nursing, paramedical, administrative and hourly staff.

Okypy said it would operate with skeleton staff and was rescheduling appointments that would be affected by the strike. It apologised for any potential trouble to patients and assured it would remain positive for dialogue and cooperation with all parties involved.

The decision to proceed with strike action was taken on September 21 when the trade unions accused Okypy of being dismissive towards its employees and unions.

Okypy spokesman Charalambos Charilaou told the Cyprus Mail last month that discussions regarding a new agreement had been going on since the beginning of July and that the organisation had been clear on the parameters it had set.

“The unions want the agreements and pay rises to be exactly the same as they were when they were employed as public sector workers, but this is not possible,” he said.

The unions however are adamant, noting that “despite the long period of time given from the strike announcement there has been no substantial intervention by the ministry of health and the government.”

Unions Sek, Peo, Deok, Pasydy, Pasyno and Pasyki have all signed on to the struggle and argue that the joint technical committee, set up along with Okypy, determined that the cost of implementing the collective agreement does not affect financial viability.

Meanwhile unions assured the public that patients will remain the top concern during the strike and that special arrangements have been made so patients will not be in danger or at risk.