Striking virus lab workers say no progress in talks with Treasury
Only positive coronavirus test results are being released; unclear if union will follow through on threat to also stop that work if no agreement reached by end of Sunday
A strike by technicians at publicly funded coronavirus testing labs looked no closer to being resolved late Sunday, after a day that saw reporting of results significantly curtailed.
Around 2,000 laboratory workers at some 400 labs started an open-ended strike on Sunday morning amid a pay dispute with the Treasury.
In a statement Sunday evening, the lab workers union said no headway was made and continued to criticize the Finance Ministry.
“The strike will continue as long as the government, in a weird and irresponsible way, continues to encourage the crushing of hospital labs and health maintenance organizations, from which workers simply want to run away,” the statement said.
“We have no choice. If we don’t strike now, in two or three months there will be no lab workers left and there will be chaos in Israel,” it continued.
Coronavirus testing is continuing amid the labor action, but only those who test positive are being reported so that epidemiological surveys can be carried out.
The government has also reportedly begun sending tests to more expensive private labs.
The head of the union of biochemists and laboratory workers, Esther Admon, threatened Sunday morning that if there was no progress by the evening, they would also stop notifying individuals who were carriers of the virus.
“If they do not bring an attractive offer by the end of the day there will be no positive [test] results for coronavirus,” she told the Kan public broadcaster.
It was not clear whether the lab workers ended up following through on that threat.
As of 7 p.m. Health Ministry numbers showed only some 5,500 tests had been run, a fifth of a normal number for a Sunday. Only 429 new cases were confirmed, about a quarter of the normal daily tally in recent days.
By 11:30 p.m., no update had been posted to the Health Ministry’s website, which usually sends new numbers at 11 p.m. It was unclear if the delay was linked to the strike.
Health Ministry Director General Chezy Levy on Sunday morning chided the lab workers over the strike.
“I respect the lab workers, but you don’t go on strike in the middle of a war. I hope it ends today,” he told Army Radio.
It was unclear if the labs could be compelled to give out positive results, given the possible scope of damage during a public health crisis.
During the strike, workers at public laboratories are only providing emergency diagnostic services to public hospitals. Channel 13 news reported that this would cover those only in departments such as intensive care, the emergency room, and women giving birth.
Tests are not being processed for patients awaiting release from hospital, or for those awaiting non-essential surgery.
Lab technicians say they are paid a fraction of what workers doing the same job at private clinics get, creating an unfair disparity that also makes it hard to attract or keep workers, leading to them being overworked.
Admon said the system was starting to buckle under the pressure of the huge numbers of tests that needed to be processed on a daily basis, but that it was becoming difficult to recruit staff as workers were choosing to work in private laboratories where the salaries were far higher for the same work.
“Entire year groups from medical schools are going to work for NIS 100 per hour (approximately $29) in private laboratories and not in public ones where they receive NIS 31 per hour (approximately $9),” she claimed.
“We have no choice. It’s for the health of the public and the health and safety of our workers,” Admon told the Kan public broadcaster. “For five years, we have known there was a crisis… and for five years nobody did anything. It seems that this is an attempt to exhaust us.”