Non-medical staffers at two Hadassah hospitals to apply sanctions Tuesday

Union of administrative and maintenance workers, technical staff to work according to a reduced Shabbat schedule.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Hadassah Medical Organization 370 (photo credit: Judy Siegel-Itzkovich)
Hadassah Medical Organization 370
(photo credit: Judy Siegel-Itzkovich)
Some 3,500 employees of the Hadassah Medical Organization’s two Jerusalem medical centers will hold sanctions and work according to a reduced Shabbat schedule on Tuesday.
The union of administrative and maintenance workers and technical staff – not including doctors and nurses – will hold sanctions “to protest against management’s unilateral steps that seriously harm the rights and status of the workers,” it was announced on Monday evening.
Union head Amnon Bruchian said that the new HMO director-general and the rest of management have “decided to adopt a severe and aggressive policy toward Hadassah employees to carry out a unilateral recovery program. This will seriously harm blue-collar workers who do holy work, night and day, to give Jerusalem residents the best medical care. If the dismissal process is not frozen, we will be forced to take more severe steps,” the union head said.
HMO director-general Avigdor Kaplan has said recently that the organization has an operating deficit of NIS 300 million and a long-term debt of NIS 1.3 billion.
Asked to comment, HMO management said that when Kaplan took office earlier this year, he prepared a reorganization and recovery plan.
“The plan has the support of the doctors and nurses unions and is based on all sectors joining in. Only the administrative and maintenance workers union conditioned joining the effort on wage increases.
“The institution cannot meet such demands. Instead of finding solutions to problems and helping management achieve recovery, the head of the administrative and maintenance workers union decided to hurt patients and HMO. Management cannot give in to its dictates.
“We call on the head of the union to return to the negotiating table and join the doctors and nurses in helping to restore HMO to health,” the HMO spokeswoman said.