I heard about the SG wage increase for Prime Minister, ministers and top civil servants. Sigh... I should have chosen politics when I had the chance. *grin*
Oh well, back to the news from NZ. For the next 2 days starting from tomorrow, medical laboratory workers will go on strike. Blood transfusions, blood testing and tissue sampling services for public and private hospitals are all affected. The union is seeking a couple of improvement for their laboratory workers in terms of wages, flexibility in working hours etc,
This is the 3rd strike since I came to NZ. The 1st was on Nov 2006 and it was a 7 days strike from the same union!!! That strike caused a backlog when nearly 1000 elective surgeries were put off in Auckland.
The 2nd strike was from the Service and Food Worker Unions. They took to the street to highlight their low wages and unjust treatment from the hospitals. Although they only clean the place or prepared the food but they are certainly more considerate. Their strike only lasted 90 minutes because they wanted to make their problems known but they didn't want the patients to be affected.
It says "Healthy Pay for Healthy Hospitals". Service staffs are indeed an important part of any industry, never take them for granted.
Taking their strike to the streets.Both pictures are from the Service and Food Worker Unions website.
Anyway, for now, the affected hospitals put up notices in the newspaper, radios and TV to remind everyone that the labs are on strike, and hospital services will be limited. The public is also reminded to see their family doctors first if it is not an emergency. Life goes on for the rest of us, I hope everyone gets what they want and no one gets hurt.
with love from NZ,
J
Spot the differences:
Auckland has 3 strikes since I arrived 6 months ago. That's an average of 1 strike every 2 months!!
The last strike in SG is ..... I really don't know when!!! But there was a famous strike called the 'Great STC Strike' ("Singapore Traction Company") that lasted 146 days and that was in 1956! The whole country's transport system was affected. For the last 30 years while I've gotten conceived, born, grew up and got hitched in SG, I've not heard of any strike.
2 comments:
Yes there was a strike in recent years. IIRC, it was a peaceful strike outside NKF. People were merely sitting outside the building for the strike but the police activated the friggin riot team to disband them. Quite amusing. ^^
Wow...
3 strikes....
That's a turkey.
Wee......
I'm waiting for the double turkey...
4 strike in a row.
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