This is a first since the year 2000, the staff of the Cedars clinic went on massive strike this Wednesday, June 30 to obtain salary increases. Administrative, stretcher bearers, technical services, caregivers, pharmacy and radio operator, all followed the movement at the call of the CGT and the CFDT.
On the roundabout of the Clinique des Cèdres, they set up a picket with barnums and banners. They invite patients and motorists to make noise by honking to support them. More than 50% of the 800 staff in the clinic are indeed on strike this Wednesday, June 30.
“It’s a general fed up! Since the Covid crisis and the shortage of caregivers, the management has set up loyalty bonuses between 1,200 euros and 1,500 euros gross annually for certain caregivers, but all the other employees have been left behind. for account. There is no fairness.”, explains Nadine Gros, nurse and CGT delegate at the Cedars clinic mobilized this morning.
Loyalty bonuses that are not generalized
Indeed, the Cedars clinic, like all other health establishments, is facing an unprecedented shortage of caregivers.
We are short of 60 nurses out of 300, 20 caregivers out of 100 and 6 radio technicians out of 25. The management has put in place exceptional measures including bonuses to attract applications and above all to retain its workforce. At the same time, the envelope of mandatory annual negotiations which sets salary increases will be derisory for everyone else this year.
Nadine Gros, CGT delegate at the Cedars clinic
Faced with galloping inflation, these staff are worried about seeing their salaries stagnate. Françoise Hernandez, radio manipulator since 1989 and CFDT delegate, also says she is very worried.
The workload has increased since the Covid
“We have new machines, ultra-modern scans, in short, more and more technology, but the staff are not keeping up. The workload has increased considerably since the start of the pandemic. We regularly work overtime, we move our on-call obligations to honor the schedules. But there, we are exhausted”, explains Françoise Hernandez.
An exhaustion and anger that won over all the services since the movement was followed by all the staff, whether stretcher bearers, administrative staff, caregivers, pharmacists or assigned to technical services.
The management requisitioned 200 people
The management requisitioned 200 people this morning to run the clinic. The strike movement was filed for 24 hours and should end Thursday morning.
We are calling for the generalization of the loyalty bonus to all clinic staff, then the integration of the block bonus of 250 euros gross monthly for everyone. We still have no news from management this morning.
Nadine Gros, CGT delegate of the Cedars clinic
In total, the unions estimate that this effort would cost the Ramsay group 5 million euros, on which the Cedars clinic depends. The bonuses awarded to the nursing staff in need would have already cost, still according to the unions, 7 million euros.