NCRHA dismissal case

ALTHOUGH the Public Services Association (PSA) has warned of intensified protest at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) over the dismissal of two workers, the chief executive officer of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) appealed to workers not to withhold their labour since the case is before arbitration at the Ministry of Labour.

The PSA has given Health Minister John Rahael until today to meet on the issue.

In an interview on Tuesday, CEO Charles Mitchell said the PSA was trying to “strong arm” the NCRHA into reinstating the workers. He said to do so would be inimical to patient care.

He appealed for the nobler senses of the workers and said they should consider patient care. Mitchell said authority is committed to due process.

He said the PSA was “very precipitous with their protest action” since it was the union which referred the dismissal to the Labour Ministry more than a month ago. He said the process of arbitration was still ongoing.

Mitchell said the Ministry of Labour will listen to both sides and if there is still no resolution, the matter will be referred to the Industrial Court.

He said the ministry and court will not be biased against either party. Mitchell said the union is aware that a consultant was hired by the NCRHA to represent them.

Although the PSA has criticised the NCRHA for missing two meetings at the Labour Ministry, Mitchell said there was a mix-up. He said the consultant will attempt to meet with first-vice president of the union, Stephen Thomas.

The PSA has argued that the dismissal of Lyndon Cowan and Dane Durham was illegal because they were not given due process to respond and the person firing them was the clinical director of the Radiology Department, Dr Omar Khan, an employee of UWI and consultant with the NCRHA.

However, Mitchell disagreed.

“There is no rule that the letter of dismissal should come from the human resource department. The PSA is trying to find all possible reason the process is flawed. The PSA is not concerned about the actions of the young men.”

Contacted for comment yesterday about the union’s next move, Thomas said, “There is nothing I can say publicly yet. We have decided to give the minister 48 hours to contact us an apologise and set a new date.”

The PSA expected to meet with Rahael 1 pm on Monday at the ministry, but the minister was at the sod-turning ceremony for the Debe Health Centre. On June 14, Rahael agreed to meet with the PSA to discuss workers’ problems including the non-payment of increments and allowances.

However, last Friday he changed his mind and said he would not meet with the union because workers at EWMSC continued to protest.