Welfare staff plan strike to protest understaffing

Social workers and district welfare office staff announced on Monday they will hold a one-hour work stoppage in protest against ongoing staff secondments to outside departments, which weaken the service.

Staff in all districts are set to strike from 11am to 12pm on Friday, the Pasydy union branch announced. Moreover, they will indefinitely stop carrying out on-call duties and refrain from using their private vehicles for work, until their demand for the return of 14 seconded staff is met.

“There are heaps of problems, most of them chronic, mainly linked to the minimal number of workers left on the front line [who are faced with] a gigantic workload, low morale, and are on the brink of burnout,” an announcement said. The latest secondments only served to aggravate the existing situation and provoke frustration, welfare staff said.

The welfare staff further recalled that the Board of Directors had been offered assurances that no further postings would be diverted from the department and to the contrary efforts would be made to return all staff posted elsewhere.

“This secondment, like all those that preceded it […] lacks justification and [involves] a transfer of staff from a service that does not have a surplus [of workers]”, welfare staff charged.