Health Care
Workers in
In August 3, 2005 the
health care workers in the hospital and medical centers
in Kirkuk (270km to the
north of Baghdad) and its suburban cities have held a general strike against
the resolution passed by the ministry of health (numbered 232971 in July 6,
2005) to decrease the pay of the employees.
The strike began at
In a TV interview in Kirkuk (Sherkow Mohammed Rahim) a health care worker said "our demands
are not only the abolishment of this resolution but also include providing
means of transportation, epidemic compensation pay, housing and accommodations
for the employees" he also vowed that they will hold an open strike next
Sunday unless their demands will be met.
And below is the list of these demands:
"After two and half
years of the downfall of the former regime, we the health care workers who are
considered the most important part of the society do not enjoy our most basic
rights. However the ministry and instead of appreciate our work, issued a
resolution to decrease our pay that we earned through years of struggle.
1.
The abolishment of decree 23971
2. increase
of the salary according to the inflation rate
3. issuing a
payment called epidemic compensation pay
4. considering
payment for employees with families and children
5. considering
payment for overtime work or weekend
6. considering
payment to compensate for transportation
7. considering
absence period for political reasons or because of suppression of the former
regime as a service time in the mentioned sector
8. decrease
of hours of the working day to 6hr/day
9. passing a
law to protect the healthcare workers from any physical or verbal abuse they face
everyday
10.
eliminating taxes
11. our
ministry should be considered as a productive sector therefore should be
included in the profit budget
12. issuing
loans to the workers who want to get married
Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in
03.08.05