Maintenance and laundry workers at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre downed tools and staged a sit-in at the hospital's main entrance on Wednesday morning, demanding higher pay for an expanded workload and the settlement of COVID-19-era payments they say have gone unpaid for about five years.
The industrial action unfolded on the grounds of the hospital on the morning of September 16, with staff gathering at the entrance as their representatives pressed management on a cluster of long-standing grievances.
Speaking to Real News, shop steward Mr. Reynolds said the workers had gone to management seeking a raise to match the additional work created as the hospital expanded its operations.
According to Reynolds, that expansion has included relocating the facility's rehabilitation service to a separate site and the opening of a sickle cell unit — new operations he said staff are now servicing with no corresponding increase in pay. "We went to management and asked for a raise regarding the [additional] output… and they don't want to give us a raise," he said.
Reassigned to Outstations at the Same Rate
A central part of the workers' frustration, Reynolds said, is that staff have been reassigned to two satellite outstations away from the main hospital campus — including a facility at the old Holberton site — while continuing to earn the same remuneration they received when their duties were confined to the main plant.
The workers argue that the reassignments amount to expanded responsibilities that management has been unwilling to compensate.
