With tear gas and batons riot police went against hospital workers in downtown Athens on Wednesday morning. Protesters marched to the Health Ministry demanding a meeting with the Minister. However, police did not allow them to come closer.
The union of public hospital workers POEDIN demands extension of work contracts for some 2,000 temporary personnel whose contracts expire between October and December.
But the times where pandemic front line workers were receiving gratitude clapping are over. Now it’s apparently time for tear gas and batons by order of the political leadership of the country.
As police goes against them, protesters shout “Shame! Disgrace!” and some also sends law enforcement officers “to hell.”
Among those who felt the hardness of a police shield was also the union president Michalis Giannakos.
Some protesters were reportedly slightly injured.
The union says that the temporary personnel “are specialized and experienced staff, many of whom work in Intensive Care Units and will leave the health care system at a time when they are needed more than ever.”
Denouncing that there are 45,000 vacancies, Poedin says that “hospitals will collapse if all 12,000 temporary staff leaves.”
It has been a traditional practice in the Greek public administration system that some categories of workers are on temporary contracts even if they work for several years.
Make the health minister and his advisors work the night shift in the COVID19 wings of the hospitals. They are paid well enough.