A government bill granting those in the health sector who have worked for 30 months with open-ended employment contracts was unveiled by Under-secretary to the President – and Reform Commissioner – Constantinos Petrides to state-hospital employee unions on Wednesday.
After successive meetings with representatives from trade unions of state doctors PASYKI, civil servants PASYDY, and nurses PASYNO, at the presidential palace, Petrides said the bill ends an injustice imposed on fixed-term contractors, while regulating a chaotic framework that failed to safeguard the efficiency of the public service.
The bill affects 1,382 fixed-term contractors, of whom 1,189 are in the health sector and 540 of these were healthcare practitioners who previously worked on 15-day contracts. The cost of the new arrangement has been estimated at an annual €3m.
“With this bill there are no longer civil servants at different rungs of the ladder, with contracts that brought job insecurity and massive administrative cost,” he said.
“As well, the bill safeguards adherence to the 1999 EU directive on open-ended contracts.”
Explaining the provisions of the bill, Petrides said the minimum duration of fixed-term contracts will be six months. Also, all fixed-term contractors who have completed 24 months of employment will see their 10-per-cent pay-cut restored, just like permanent civil servants.
Lastly, fixed-term contractors completing 30 months of employment will see their employment status automatically switched to an open-ended contract, assuming “good performance”, while contracts may no longer be terminated on grounds of redundancy.
Petrides noted that the “good performance” standard is introduced in the civil service for the first time.
Speaking after meeting with the Reform Commissioner, PASYNO spokesman Theodoros Petelis welcomed the government’s “intention to correct pre-exisiting distortions”.
Asked to comment on the ongoing indefinite strike staged by PASYNO nurses over recognising their nursing degrees and granting them the commensurate pay increases, Petelis said this is a separate issue, but noted that without substantive dialogue the strike cannot be called off.
“With regard to our demands, there has been no proposal from the government,” he said.
After his own union’s delegation met with Petrides, PASYKI rep Soteris Koumas said the union will review the bill before offering its views.
“Our priority is to inform our members first, term-contract doctors,” he said.
Commenting on the nurses’ strike, Koumas said that each professional group sets its own agenda, adding that when the demands are within the boundaries of legality, strikes are certainly justified.
He added that PASYKI had warned that the strike would burden doctors with more responsibilities.
“Unfortunately, this is what is happening now,” he said.
PASYDY leader Glafcos Hadjipetrou said that first impressions from skimming through the bill are very satisfactory.
“The bill includes important clauses regulating the status of some 1,400 civil servants, over 1,000 of whom are employed in the health sector,” he said.
“Our goal is for the bill to be passed by this parliament and implemented immediately.”
Meanwhile, a plea to striking PASYNO nurses to end or suspend their strike and engage in dialogue with the government over their demands was issued by the Cyprus Alliance of Rare Conditions later on Wednesday.
“We most certainly appreciate and acknowledge the nurses’ epistemology, critical role, and undoubted contribution, and completely agree that healthcare professionals should be allowed to work in an environment of decency,” the alliance said in a statement.
But, the statement added, while the contribution of nurses and other healthcare practitioners is invaluable, the right of every Cypriot citizen to quality health service must rank higher than any other right or demand.
“Do not strip us of our self-evident human right to adequate medical care,” the alliance said.
“Do not hold us hostage to your demands, justified though they may be. We warmly appeal to you to end or suspend your strike immediately, and engage in dialogue, just as we patients do.”
