Aug 3, 2006

Health care laborers gathering in front of the University of Ankara Faculty of Medicine building protested against their co-workers being forced to take vacation without pay and the 20-30% deduction in the paychecks for the revolving capital budget of the university.

Health Care Workers’ Union, Dev Sağlık İş, other health care laborer union SES and the Ankara Chamber of Physicians signed the press release which was read by the representatives.

The slogans, “JDP is bad for your health”, “If no jobs, no bread, then there is no peace!”, “Long live our organized struggle”, “we want equality and justice; Stop unpaid forced vacations” were chanted by the health care professionals.

The press release:

The Government’s “Transformation in Health” Program is taking away our jobs and our bread!

The University Hospitals, which are considered to be central to the health care system, are living an unprecedented economic crisis because of being unable to collect their bills from the Social Security Institutions and due to their budgets being reduced every year by the government.

On February 1, 2005, when the Social Security Health Service Institutions were transferred to the Ministry of Health, the costs incurred by these institutions due to health care services they provided to the patients under the plan and was payable by the government was 3.5 billion YTL ($2.7 Billion) The government had refused to pay this amount causing a great health care crises in Turkey. When the reaction to this practice grew and resistance was organized, the government gave in but started paying the government hospitals first and the university hospital payments were delayed.

After the July 1 decree by the Treasury, the university hospitals, which already had been crippled and at an economic level where they could not pay any bills, suffered another fatal blow.

The government’s plan was to delay or not pay the hospitals and use the economic crises it created to discipline them. On the other hand, the government’s plan called, “The Transformation in Health Care”, but better known among the people as, “The Collapse in Health Care,” made it impossible for anybody to have access or to receive free health care services.

Our hospital also received its share of problems in this process.

The university hospitals, which are prevented from collecting their dues for their services are trying to cope with the situation.

In our hospital,

Citing the reason, “Due to the economic crises stemming from being unable to collect the incurred costs of providing health care services from the Social Security Institutions or other related institutions,” the university administration is suspending the work contract for a month for the contracted health care professionals. On the other hand, the employees are being deducted 25-35% more to contribute to the revolving capital fund.

It is striking that those who claim to be against the government’s policies and their tactic of punishing and disciplining the institutions by withholding the finances, never think about fighting against the marketization of health care but rather, they immediately consider laying off workers and reduction in pays under the guise of cost cutting.

Somehow, self-sacrifice is always requested from the workers.

We have been self-sacrificing for years. We have been giving health services while working under intense working conditions with low pay, with low staffing levels.

Now they want us to do self-sacrifice alone.

We are having a hard time understanding how they are trying to convert the hospital into a hotel while using the excuse of the economic crises to cut 25-35% of our wages to the revolving capital.

We are having a hard time understanding how our co-workers are being forced to take unpaid vacations while we have to give 25-35% deductions to the revolving capital fund.

As if we have not been self-sacrificing while we work under low staffed, intense, stressful work conditions and are underpaid, they are cutting our wages further and are condemning us to take unpaid vacations.

Yes, we are self-sacrificing, but who else is self-sacrificing, we wonder.

We have no tolerance left anymore. Those who want to take away our jobs and bread will be the ones losing their jobs and bread.

We are respectfully announcing to the public that we will fight against both those who are attempting to reverse our job security, take away our income and violate the harmonious work conditions and the ruling JDP government’s “The Collapse in Health Care Program.”

Dev Sağlık İş,
SES Ankara Branch,
Ankara Chamber of Physicians