RAMALLAH, April 26, 2011 (WAFA) - The Palestinian government’s decision to go to the Supreme Court to force striking public health employees to return to work provoked strong reaction from the health employees' union.
Union spokesman, Osama Najjar, said Tuesday that the employees will go on a general strike on the day the court will hold its hearing, which could be Wednesday, calling on health employees to gather outside the court to demand their rights.
He accused the government of not implementing the promises it made to the health sector employees more than 10 months ago.
He said that the demands are stuck between three different governmental parties including the personnel department, the ministry of health and the ministry of finance, adding that each side is trying to blame the other for not meeting the employees’ demands.
The Palestinian government said Monday that it will ask the Supreme Court to order the health employees to end their strike and return to work in the context of concern for the public interest affected by the strike and to reduce its impact on providing essential health services without being unfair to the rights of the employees.
The employees’ demands are focused on increasing wages by adjusting wages to the high cost of living in the
In another development, the union of university employees announced Tuesday that it will hold a general strike in all Palestinian universities on Wednesday also demanding better wages that have been affected by the drop in the exchange rate of the US dollar and Jordanian dinar.
The union said it will escalate its protest measures if its demands are not met.
Y.Y./M.A.
