GOVERNMENT MEDICAL technologists remained defiantly absent from work yesterday, despite the Labour Minister's warning that he could take them to court for their illegal strike."They are going to stay off until a reasonable proposition is put to them," declared Janice Wissart, spokespersons and head of the Jamaican chapter of the Caribbean Association of Medical Technologists.
The medical technologists resumed their strike Thursday, after talks with the Government failed to garner a solution. The Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) issued an order for them to resume work by 8 a.m. yesterday, but they failed to honour the deadline and, at a meeting held two hours later, voted to remain on strike until the dispute is settled. They are seeking parity with government scientific officers doing similar work.
Medical technologists are responsible for diagnostic laboratory tests, including pap smears, blood samples analysing and are considered part of the essential health services. They first took industrial action January 2-6.
Threats to fine them for breaching the IDT and the Labour and Industrial Relations Act (LRIDA), as well as Minister of Health John Junor's suggestion that they could lose their jobs if they stayed away from work and Ministry's proposal to seek private diagnostic laboratory testing services, seemed to have little effect on their spirits, as they met at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, yesterday.
Horace Dalley, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, warned that it is illegal for the technologists to continue their industrial action in light of the back to work order issued by the IDT on Thursday.
He said that the group's actions constituted a breach of the provisions of the LRIDA and they could be prosecuted and fined a maximum of $50,000, with an additional $2,000 for each day that the offence continues.
The law must take its course, Minister Dalley said.
In a statement on the issue yesterday, vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), Senator Dwight Nelson, expressed concern at the turn of events, including the statement by Minister Junor that the medical technologists could be fired for staying off the job.
Leford Bennett, chief union delegate for the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP), which represents the technologists reacted, "I don't have any money (to pay fines) so they will have to put me in jail."
On Mr. Junor's threat to privatise the services, Mr. Bennett said, "the Minister can talk of privatisation, but he will have to tell the nation, sometime or the other, what it's going to cost and that cost would pay the medical technologists for a couple of years so he will have to decide."
"We defy the order already, so they may carry out the court injunction or fine us. If that is to come, the med techs are ready for that. The med techs are not afraid when they are fighting for a just cause. We are not going back to work until the matter of reasonable compensation is addressed," Mr. Bennett insisted.
The Health Ministry reported that some med tech, especially in the rural areas, turned up for work today but several hospitals, such as the Bustamante Children's Hospital, were only handling emergency cases. Reports are that the National Public Health Laboratory, the Kingston Public Hospital, Victoria Jubilee Hospital appeared to be the most affected.
On Thursday, the National Public Health Laboratory, the Blood Bank and various public hospitals began implementing contingency plans developed to minimise the level of disruption which may be caused by the strike.
