Social workers announce possible strike starting next week
Social workers first went on strike last year. Photo:Social Workers for Systemic Changes/facebook.
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Georgian social workers, who say that their rights remain unprotected, may go on strike starting Monday if the Heath Ministry officials refuse to meet with them this week.
The social workers say that the Social Agency of the Ministry of Health has failed to ensure proper working conditions for them and ‘factually’ suspended negotiations.
They say that the professional union Solidarity Network (which acted on behalf of social workers) and the Social Agency had a legal dispute and social workers asked for mediation in the process.
The mediation also failed and we requested an additional round. However, eight months have passed since we made the request and there is no response from the agency,” the Solidarity Network said.
The professional union says that if the health minister and the head of the agency refuse to meet with social workers in the week, the social workers will go on strike as ‘they will have no other way.’
The union also urged the health ministry to make a comment on the suspended mediation.
Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze has stated in parliament today that social workers, who evaluate the social-economic conditions of families in Georgia, will be equipped with cameras ‘for more transparency and fairness in the provision of state funding for poor families.’
A large-scale strike of Georgia’s social workers has been underway since 8:30 am across the country.
Four social workers have been dismissed and the head of the Social Programmes Department of the Social Service Agency of the Ministry of Health have resigned after the death of a four-year-old child in the Sanzona district of Tbilisi on 22 January.
All clinics involved in the state General Healthcare Programme will receive equal funding from the state budget and provide services to beneficiaries at a price set by the state government, Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze said while presenting the healthcare reform late yesterday.
The Minister of Health of Georgia Zurab Azarashvili has responded to an ongoing strike by 390 social service workers by saying a plan by the Social Service Agency, the public body employing the group, to increase their salaries starting next month is “adequate”.
A total of 390 employees of the Social Service Agency of the Ministry of Health is preparing to go on strike on January 17 if their salaries are not increased by 100 per cent, lawyer of the professional union Solidarity Network Davit Omsarashvili said earlier today.
Georgian social workers have ended their strike after reaching an agreement with the Social Service Agency of the Ministry of Health to increase salaries and provide transportation.