If the parties do not reach an understanding, no laboratory tests will be performed from the first • The representative of the laboratory workers: "The Treasury is invited to return to the discussions and present a commitment to change"
Laboratory workers go out to fight
Photo:
Joshua Joseph
Negotiations between the lab workers and the Treasury exploded tonight (Thursday) after the parties failed to reach an understanding. If the parties fail to reach a compromise, no tests will be carried out this Sunday - indefinitely. And these are not just corona tests. The workers will only perform life-saving lab tests .
"After years of discussions, and certainly in the current era of the Korna epidemic, the Ministry of Finance should commit to a real change in the attitude of public laboratory workers," said Esther Admon, chairwoman of the Biochemists' Association of Biochemists and Laboratory Workers.
Admon attacked the Treasury, but invited ministry representatives to return to the negotiating table. "The Ministry of Finance is invited tonight to return immediately to the negotiating table and present a real commitment to change, as well as to reveal the agreements signed with Mae Heritage companies and private developers. We are ready to debate continuously, seriously and fairly, until white smoke rises."
Laboratory workers are fighting for their status, workloads, and employment conditions, and are protesting that new employment agreements have not been signed with them for many years. The salary per employee starts in a laboratory, with a bachelor's and even master's degree, about NIS 31 per hour, while in the Weizmann Institute laboratories the salary is about NIS 70 and in May Heritage Laboratories the salary is NIS 120 per hour.
Also only a third (34%) of lab workers are up to age 45 and there is no reserve of lab workers to replace the retired workers which has created an acute crisis in the system. At this time, a protest meeting of laboratory workers is being held at Shaare Zedek Hospital ahead of the expected strike.
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The guidelines sent prior to the strike indicate that laboratory tests will only be performed on cancer patients for the purpose of providing treatments, and for couples undergoing fertility treatments. Urgent tests will also be possible for preterm infants, staff members who have been exposed to a patient's blood or for organ donation.
The strike is expected to hurt all hospital operations. For example, tests will not be given to the inpatient wards, for example for the purpose of discharging patients. Only tests for the intensive care unit and a number of urgent tests for the emergency rooms will be allowed. No laboratory tests necessary to perform non-urgent (elective) surgeries will be performed and this may disrupt the existence of surgeries.