EMS Keys Or Strike

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Just days after an end was seemingly put to the two-week-long industrial action by staff at the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), employees are threatening to renew the strike action.

Industrial Relations Officer at the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) Ralph Potter said the action is dependent on whether EMS technician Linton Paul is given the keys to his office and tools needed to do his job when he returns to work today.

Potter said the EMS supervisor had not received his keys to his office up to the end of last week and warned the matter must be settled by this morning. Paul was sent on administrative leave since August 18.

“Mr Paul’s next workday, from what I understand, it is going to be Monday morning so we have decided we will wait until Monday morning to see what happens when he turns up, whether or not he will be allowed to have access to his office and be given back whatever he needs to be given back to be able to function,” Potter said.

The workers ended more than two weeks of protest action on Friday after government agreed to recall those who were sent on administrative leave during the strike.

Potter is now claiming that Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Edson Joseph, whose actions the workers had been protesting, has been refusing to honour the deal.

Potter however said he is confident of avoiding a return to strike action since he has been given assurances by Labour Commissioner Hesketh Williams that the matter will be resolved by today.

“The labour commissioner assured he would do whatever needs to be done over this weekend to ensure that on Monday what needs to be ironed will be ironed it so that the possibility of returning to industrial action will be, if not totally removed, at least reduced to an extent where it might be possible that things will be acceptable,” Potter said.

Potter said he sees the situation in which Paul has not been returned his office keys and tools as deliberate aggravation and that he wants it regularised immediately if government is to avert resumption of the strike.

“When the person has not been able to access his office and has not been able to access the tools he needs to function then you have to consider … it has to be a deliberate action,” Potter said.

Meanwhile General Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Free Trade Union (ABFTU) Stafford Joseph believes the authorities have already allowed the matter to go on too long.

“This is a national situation now and these workers need to go back to work but however they do have rights. If this continues the persons who are in authority above the PS need to step in right away and do whatever is prudent to stem the problem going further,” Joseph said.

Joseph also said that the government should have ensured long before any industrial action that EMS workers were enshrined as part of essential services.

“The powers that be … should have not waited until these situations occur and to act on them before. It should have been long ago but it was not done so … we know it’s more than essential,” Joseph said.

“We know, it don’t have to be written down, from our experience we know everything that is a matter of life and death is essential … it is essential we know that,” Joseph added.