TV report: Nurses' mass resignation to apply to about 20 hospitals

Ministry: "emergency work" provision no solution to planned action

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Jaana Laitinen-Pesola, chairwoman of the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy), is not confirming the veracity of a list of hospitals that might be affected by a mass resignation of nurses.
      Tehy has announced plans for a mass resignation of nurses to press demands for higher pay.
      The prospect of a mass resignation is more effective than a strike because striking nurses can be obliged to show up at work to maintain a bare minimum of patient care. On the other hand, there is the danger that nurses who resign may not be rehired, although the union does not see this as a very likely scenario, considering the labour shortage in the profession.
      "It is all pure speculation", said Laitinen-Pesola to Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday evening, commenting on the list made public by the commercial television network MTV3.
      "We do not yet have decisions on the matter. We will assess the situation during the weekend, and make decisions on Monday."
     
According to the list made public by MTV3, the mass resignations would apply to about 20 hospitals. The largest university central hospitals, including those of Jorvi and Peijas would be affected, according to the report.
      Provincial central hospitals affected would include those of Kokkola, Seinäjoki, Pori, Lahti, Jyväskylä, Joensuu, and the Turku City Hospital. The action would also apply to 11 municipal health centres around the country.
      "I am not commenting at this point", Laitinen-Pesola said, hearing about the list. "It sounds like they collected all of the targets of the previous doctors' strike, and launched a kind of test balloon into the air."
      She added that the hospitals to be chosen will be the ones where there has been sufficient interest in mass resignation as a tactic in the labour dispute.
     
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health says that legal provisions for "emergency work" cannot be invoked to deal with the shortage of nursing staff that a mass resignation might entail.
      Under emergency work legislation, people can be ordered to work in unforseen circumstances such as major disasters.
      "Advance warning must be given for strikes, and in cases of resignation, there are periods of notice. Then the employer can prepare for the situation in advance, in which case the preconditions set by the law on working hours are not met", says Pekka Järvinen of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
      Järvinen says that the need for emergency work could be considered if there were some major disaster, in addition to the shortfall in nursing staff.
      "Even then it is only possible to order people who are at work to perform emergency work. This is not possible for people who are on strike, nor for those whose employment is terminated."


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tehy rejects contract offer approved by other nurses´ union (1.10.2007)
  Hospitals fear impact of nurses´ threatened industrial action (11.10.2007)
  Health care workers threaten mass resignation in labour dispute (10.10.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat