The Antigua and Barbuda Nurses association is urging the government to pull back planned legislative changes that it says would trample the rights of workers at the Mount St. John’s Medical Centre.
But the association’s president is warning that in the absence of commonsense prevailing, her organization will mount a legal challenge to the amendments.
The amendments in question are planned for this Tuesday when the Parliament meets and will affect public officers seconded from Holberton Hospital to the Mount. St. John’s Medical Centre in 2009.
The pending changes will also complete the transitioning of Mount St. John’s Medical Centre to the management of a Board.
Josiah says the unions representing the hospital’s workers were not consulted about the amendments.
The president of the Antigua and Barbuda Nurses Association, Karen Josiah.
An explanatory memorandum accompanying the amendment bill says that when the secondment is finished, public officers who are not absorbed by the hospital board, or who chose not to be absorbed, will face redundancy.
Josiah says the changes are unconstitutional and the executive of the nurses’ association will meet with the members on Monday.
The President of the Antigua and Barbuda Nurses’ Association, Karen Josiah.