Possible protest at the San Fernando General Hospital was avoided yesterday after an agreement between the Public Service Association (PSA) and the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) which now allows staff to be paid overtime wages.
Nurses, nursing assistants, ward maids and engineering workers left their posts during the morning shift and crowded the eighth floor of the San Fernando Teaching Hospital where PSA president Watson Duke and SWRHA CEO Anil Gosine were locked in a meeting. Speaking after, Duke said workers had planned to take action against the hospital after administrators did not address issues, such as the non-payment of overtime, which were brought up last month.
Claiming victory yesterday, he said workers would not only be paid overtime for extra hours worked but shift workers would be given two days off after working a shift. Eight-hour shifts would be worked opposed to 12-hour shifts.
Workers would also be paid shift bonuses and retroactive payments for working on off days for the past five years, he said. Duke added that everything should be put in writing by Monday and paves the way for the PSA to begin negotiating for a collective agreement, the first ever in the RHA’s history. Commending Gosine for the agreement, Duke said: “We reckon the CEO to be a good man but like (Barbadian hip hop artiste) Rihanna, he could be a good boy, gone bad.
“You know good girl gone bad, we can have a situation like that here. That is the same thing with Ameena (Ali) too, she was good girl gone bad. We are hoping that the CEO does not change and we are expecting to have all of this in writing by Monday.
“We have numerous support from the nursing fraternity and we will be mobilising all the rest of RHAs to continue discussions.
“These discussions will be new because for the very first time we expect to have a collective agreement for the entire South West RHA and that also will eventually work itself out for the Eastern RHA, North Central RHA, North West and Tobago Regional Health Authority.”
While work would continue as normal, Duke warned that all was still not well as the issue of an outstanding fire certificate was yet to be dealt with. He accused the SWRHA of “monkeying” around with the issue and warned that workers could refuse to work under unsafe conditions. However, he said, they would continue to work in good faith, hoping that the certificate will be obtained soon.