For several months, in kyiv, Lviv and other Ukrainian cities, hospital workers, especially nurses, have been mobilizing to defend their rights. What is at stake are unpaid wages, working conditions and the closure of hospitals. Independent grassroots unions have emerged. Oksana Slobodiana from the Be Like Nina movement was kind enough to answer our questions about this situation.
By Patrick Le Trehondat
Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Oksana Slobodiana. I am an animator in the health sector of the Be Like Nina movement, an independent trade union in the Lviv region, and I work as a nurse in a children’s hospital. I am also the mother of four children, three of whom are still minors.
Could you introduce us to the Be Like Nina movement, its history, its role and why it is named?
Our movement was born from a popular initiative of health workers (nurses) in 2019. Since then, we have protected the rights of this sector of workers. If we can’t solve the problems through dialogue, we organize demonstrations. Our main task is to improve the working and training conditions of health workers. To that end, we use all methods, of course, within the law. The name of the movement “Be Like Nina” comes from the name of the initiator of the first nurses’ demonstration, Nina Bondar. Nina, who worked in a kyiv hospital, decided one night to express her dissatisfaction with working conditions, salary and management’s attitude towards nurses. She posted a message – which was a cry from her heart – on Facebook. From one day to the next, she had more than 20,000 views. Since then, health workers have come together to defend their professional rights. Like Nina, everyone wants to stop ignoring all the violations they have to deal with in the workplace.
The hospital and health sector is strategic, especially for a country at war. However, we see that the workers of the same find many difficulties. Can you tell us about the current situation of doctors and nurses, and the state of the healthcare sector in Ukraine in general?
As of 2018, a health reform has been applied in Ukraine. Since then, medical institutions are regularly closed, there is a goal of optimization and merger of hospitals. This has a significant impact on health workers, who lose their jobs. This process did not stop during the war. The situation worsened considerably: many medical institutions were closed as a result of shelling and artillery fire. As a consequence of this, it would be appropriate to put an end to the so-called “optimization”. But the main mistake of the reform was the decision to transfer the management of the health sector to local authorities. Today, it is local officials who decide if a health center is necessary or not. The municipal authorities have become the de facto owners of the hospitals. People without special training, who do not understand how they work in practice, decide on the fate of medical facilities and, at the same time, on their employees and patients.
We have seen demonstrations by hospital staff in Kyiv and in Lviv. I think unions have also been created in those cities. Could you tell us about these demonstrations and the demands they raise? What are the new unions or organizations that exist in hospitals to protect employees and their health?
Due to “martial law”, demonstrations are prohibited in Ukraine. But health workers are not resting on their laurels and are starting to create independent unions on the ground. Until then, “state unions” operated in medical centers, supported by “administrative” resources while ignoring the opinions and interests of their members.
Now, everything is changing. Workers are uniting to defend their professional rights. In the past, these independent unions only existed in the big cities, but now we are contributing to their emergence in small towns and villages as well. Workers in small towns and villages must also feel protected.
What kind of support do you get from the people?
People’s attitude towards doctors changes depending on the moment. Sometimes patients could reproach the medical staff for something. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and people watched as doctors, nurses, and junior staff, with no special protection, risked their lives to save her. The health personnel then earned respect. Today, things are different. To be honest, not all Ukrainians are well informed about the current reform of the healthcare sector and its consequences, so they often complain about us. But we are carrying out campaigns to actively communicate with the population, informing them about the real situation. People are starting to think about this issue more deeply and to support health professionals.
Do you think that health professionals can propose an alternative plan to the government’s health policy?
Of course, because changes can only be proposed by people who work in that area and know the problems from the inside. In fact, it sometimes seems that random people with no particular experience have taken over the reform of the healthcare sector in Ukraine. For example, they want to reform the healthcare system in Ukraine according to the “British model”. But our realities, the economic situation in the country, the mentality of the people and the health situation, which has never been adequately funded, are very different from those in the UK. In addition, we must not forget that our country is currently in the middle of a war.
Article taken from: https://laboursolidarity.org (International Union Network of Solidarity and Struggles), 04/04/2023