5,000 medical workers walk off hospital jobs
July 21, 2005 ㅡ Thousands of unionized hospital workers, including nurses and administrative employees, walked off their jobs yesterday morning, demanding a five-day workweek and an almost 10-percent wage increase. The workers said they would not return until their demands had been met.
In the first hours of the strike, patients suffered minor inconveniences and slower service, but there were no life-threatening circumstances. The Korean Health and Medical Workers Union called on employees manning critical care units to remain on the job.
Representatives of the union and hospital management are continuing to negotiate. The union is seeking a 9.89-percent wage increase and full-time contracts for part-time workers.
The union said 5,000 members at 33 separate health care facilities nationwide joined the strike. Those participating represent a fraction of the 40,000 nurses, technicians and administrative staffers who belong to the union.
Emergency rooms, surgical facilities, nurseries and intensive care units were fully staffed. Non-union employees worked extra shifts to maintain services.
Hospitals at Korea, Hanyang and Ewha Womans universities, as well as the Veteran’s Hospital, were affected by the walk-out.
“My husband’s rehabilitation session was postponed one day,” Lee Su-ja complained at Ewha Womans University’s hospital in Mokdong, Seoul.
At Korea University Medical Center’s Anam Hospital, patients’ meals were delayed as hospital kitchen staff joined the job action. Patients showed concern over the possibility of a prolonged walk-out.
“I feel uneasy seeing hundreds of workers staging a sit-in at the lobby,” a patient at Korea University hospital said. “As the strike continues, those working extra shifts will feel exhausted, and I am worried about patients under long-term care.”
Workers at the nation’s four largest hospitals ― Seoul National University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital and Seoul Asan Medical Center ― are not members of the union, and operations there were carried out normally.