Linden Hospital CEO back on the job

–as nurses end protest

— cites lack of support from Linden community

Nurses attached to the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC), have ended their protest, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rudy Small, is back on the job. The nurses were protesting for close to two months, for the removal of Small and better working conditions, but decided to throw in the towel after their livelihood was under threat. For the month of April, more than 50 per cent of the nurses who were protesting, had their salaries cut. One nurse’s salary was short by as much as $96,000.00.

Even though it was not their heart’s desire, the nurses cited lack of support from the overall Linden community, though they expressed appreciation to the few regional officials who backed them during the protest. “We have not really gotten any support from the community, people were backing us on social media but to come out with us on the streets, in the sun, we were not getting that support. We were out there for close to two months and we were not getting the support,” one nurse said.

Nurses were protesting against Small’s distasteful comments about them during an interview. The interview was in relation to the installation of an electronic time management system, which the CEO wanted to use to better track their working hours, since it was alleged that many of the nurses would leave their post during the nights to ‘sleep with their sweetman’.

 The nurses said that the CEO is going ahead with this system, as the process to secure their finger print and other necessary information has started. “We have not had any dialogue about it and I have a problem with it because we have not seen any consent form and you are taking people’s finger prints. Identify theft is real and I have a problem with that,” one concerned nurse affirmed. In addition, nurses claim that upon their return to work two basic drugs- Panadol and diclofenac are not in stock.