The government has offered, in vain, “out of the crisis” solutions to health workers in Guadeloupe suspended due to refusal to get vaccinated, said Joël Mathurin, chief of staff of the foreign minister Jean – Francois Carenco, on Thursday.
“According to data from the regional health agency, 221 people are affected in the area (caregivers, administrative and liberal staff, ed)”, specified Mathurin, including “93 people from the CHU”.
Suspended and without salary for more than a year, these caregivers are asking for reinstatement in their establishments, with regular PCR tests in place of the Covid-19 vaccine, rejected by the Ministry of Health.
“We therefore remain within the framework of the vaccination obligation”, observed Joël Mathurin, on a visit to Guadeloupe, who then offered the unions an “exceptional starting plan” with greater contractual breaks. “We will multiply the allowances offered by the classic scales by three,” he said.
“In other words, departures will be at a minimum of 40,000 euros”, he assured. According to him, this amount makes it possible to consider “the retraining of these people not suited to the needs of their profession”.
Simplify retirements
“We will also allow early retirement by making financial provisions more flexible”, the ministry’s emissary also explained, adding that these provisions would apply to “everyone” in Guadeloupe. But, he complained, “the union’s response was an end to inadmissibility.”
“We refuse, in fact,” confirmed Gaby Clavier, former general secretary of the Ugtg as well as the health branch of the union, one of the most active in the movement against compulsory vaccination.
Shortly before in the afternoon, the “collective of the warring organizations” had declared in a letter “ready to start a negotiation process” with a view to the “reintegration” of all the personnel concerned, but had previously refused to “negotiate dismissal processes” .
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According to the collective, these proposals are pretexts aimed at “reducing the payroll” of health facilities and limiting access to care, and “above all to do justice to the segregationist invectives of some doctors”.
This is the second time that common law waivers have been offered to suspended Guadeloupe staff. The conflict over the vaccination requirement had led, in November 2021, to unrest that paralyzed the island for more than three weeks.
