The proposed changes to the NPPD will have a significant impact on workers; reorganization worries Latgale workers / Article

Workers in Latgale are very concerned about the upcoming changes. Meetings were held with the head of the service in Rēzekne and Daugavpils, after which the workers said, although only anonymously, that they felt threatened.

Work at least 100 kilometers away from your residence or lose your job – about 30 NMPD employees in Daugavpils face such a choice. Daugavpils residents in the medical union are dissatisfied with the planned changes at the service, but are afraid to express their opinion publicly. Because it would be better not to do it, they understood from what the service manager said.

The goal is not to fire anyone

These changes will mainly affect employees, NMPD explains about the changes in general. They need to change their thinking. Must be more flexible. Changes in the work environment are possible. But these decisions will not affect the citizens in any way. This is what NMPD chief Liene Cipule told LTV on Monday. On Tuesday, the reforms were introduced to the public.

There are places where positions are reduced, but the aim is not to lay off anyone. Employees in the service will be offered work, in an equal position.

“If a team worth half a million only completes one call in two days, do you think the taxpayers’ money is well spent? And we couldn’t manage this half a million to other needs of the people of Latvia?” asks Liene Cipule, head of the NMPD.

Mostly, the changes will affect the Latgale region. But not only that – because in the future the employee’s workplace will not be a single local place, where the emergency service is based, but a larger regional structural unit, they will have to go on calls to wider areas, and for some workers, as a result, how close or far they live will also vary from your workplace. There will also be fewer brigades on duty at night. And more – more and more teams of two, not three employees will be formed.

“Is it correct? Can we work in twos? Can we work in twos? Yes. We can work in twos. We are a country where there are three brigades to consist of three people… however, there are basically two. Because in critical support, a very important principle.

Anxiety in Latgale. “I have not threatened anyone”

Rēzekne and Daugavpils NMPD employees feel threatened not only because they may have to lose their jobs, but also because they will have to do so if they do not comply with their concerns himself.

“Today, I was told, at the meeting in Daugavpils, that the head of the service said that if someone expresses an opinion to the media that could be interpreted as casting a shadow on the service, that everything will be done to make this person deep. repent,” said Latvian Health and social care workers’ union chairman Valdis Keris.

However, Cipule, the head of the NMPD, says that she has asked the workers, understanding the situation, not to scare the citizens of Latvia. “That it could affect the chances of getting help for something. It was an invitation, I have not threatened anyone,” she explained.

Although the head of the service has so far stressed that the workers will not be fired, layoffs are expected.

It is expected that 12 drivers and 17 or 18 medical workers will be laid off in the Daugavpils center, which covers the southern part of Latgali. For whom exactly, the list will still be made.

“In Daugavpils, one brigade will work less during the night, in Krāslava, Preiļi. In Krāslava, one day brigade will be eliminated. That is why this surplus of workers will rise, but places will be offered to all employees elsewhere,” says Ieva Zvirbule, head of the NMPD Daugavpils brigade support center. When asked where the job will be offered, she answered: for example, in Cēsis, Riga, Ventspils, Liepāja.

The changes will affect 13 armed forces

Very few agreed to change their residence, predicted workers in Daugavpils. They promise to speak openly after knowing who has been fired.

In total, the changes will affect 13 brigades. Most of them are in Latgale, two of them are the only brigades in remote rural villages. In part, it is planned to move them to work only during the day, in another part, two will work instead of three doctors. Latgale was saved in a previous reorganization, according to the service. Many citizens of Daugavpils are confused as to why resources should be reduced where the indicators of the quality of work are the best.

“No one in the service wants to reduce the quality of work, reduce responsiveness, reduce preparedness for emergency situations.

But the funding we invest to ensure this, we have to match it with the capabilities of the Latvian state,” affirms Cipule.

The members of the trade union in Daugavpils would prefer to allocate money for workers’ insurance, which has not existed so far, to preserve at least part of the existing order. Next week, they plan to meet the head of the service again, possibly in Riga.

The union expresses dismay

There is concern about change in the Health and Social Care Workers Union. A reduction in the number of brigades at night can create dangers.

“The smaller the brigades, the greater the risk that the brigade will not arrive on time. The fewer men in the brigade, the more difficult it will be for them to provide assistance there the bad cases.

The greater the burden on them, the greater the risk,” explained the head of the trade union, Valdis Keris.

Next week, the management of the service is planning a meeting with the representatives of the trade unions, according to which, after that, the workers who will be affected by the changes will be informed about the changes. it is proposed in the employment contracts or the proposed vacancies. . In total, around 70 positions will be cut. True, some of them are empty for a long time.