Director of Administration Danley Phillip
The Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre has outsourced some of its laundry operations as industrial action by laundry employees continues to affect the availability of clean linen and the delivery of patient care.
Director of Administration Danley Phillip said the hospital was forced to implement emergency measures after employees continued their protest action Thursday despite being instructed by the Human Resources Department to return to work.
“We have outsourced the laundry for now,” Phillip disclosed.
He said the hospital is paying a commercial company to process some of its linen while also considering the temporary engagement of people with previous experience working in the laundry department.
“We have sourced some people who we will probably pay overtime to wash the laundry people who might have worked in the laundry before and now have different full-time jobs,” he said.
Management may also recruit and train additional temporary workers if the disruption continues.
Phillip warned that employees who persist in refusing to perform their assigned duties could face suspension.
“If this persists, we are going to have to officially suspend the laundry workers,” he said.
The industrial action began after laundry employees reportedly refused to wash linen from the Sickle Cell Centre, arguing that the responsibility represented additional work.
Management rejected that claim, saying the same linen was already being processed by the department when the Sickle Cell Unit operated from within the hospital. The facility has since been relocated to improve patient care.
The employees were asked to produce evidence showing that the move had caused a significant increase in their workload, but Phillip said no supporting information was provided.
Instead, he alleged that the workers began processing the hospital’s linen slowly, resulting in shortages that affected bed availability and delayed the transfer of some patients to wards.
Phillip said hospital officials were not formally notified of Wednesday’s protest and learned about it through social media. Representatives of the employees later met with the Human Resources Department after receiving a letter directing them to resume work.
Despite that meeting, the protest continued Thursday.
Phillip said the hospital was attempting to handle the dispute with restraint but stressed that management could not allow the action to continue compromising patient care.
The employees have raised several concerns, including claims of outstanding COVID-19 payments and demands for increased compensation. Maintenance workers who joined the protest have reportedly requested a salary increase of approximately 60 per cent.
Hospital management has disputed claims that COVID-19 allowances remain outstanding, saying no such payments were formally approved for the laundry or maintenance employees.
The administration continues to urge the protesting workers to return to their duties while their concerns are pursued through established industrial-relations procedures.
This is where the compassion and care that should be at the heart of any healthcare institution need to come into play.
Money can now be found to engage a private company to process the laundry, and that will certainly come at a cost. In fact, if I owned that private company and saw that your back was against the wall, I would understand that I was negotiating from a very strong position. Yet somehow, finding a reasonable way to sit with the existing employees and address their concerns appears far more difficult.
What I would have liked to read in this article is that Mr. Phillip and the HR team intended to sit face to face with these workers, listen to them and work towards a reasonable and amicable solution. Instead, the strongest message coming through is possible suspension.
What about all the days these employees worked, carried additional burdens, handled dirty and potentially contaminated linen and simply got the job done? The one time they decide they have had enough and stand up for themselves, the immediate response should not simply be punishment.
Leadership requires more than exercising authority. It requires people skills, empathy and the ability to de escalate a difficult situation. If those skills are not your strength, then allow trained HR and people management professionals to lead that process.
We recently saw Public Works employees take industrial action and the Prime Minister went out and engaged with them, acknowledged their right to protest and offered reassurance. That did not mean every demand had to be accepted. It simply demonstrated that workers can be treated like human beings while a dispute is being addressed.
This hospital is built around care. That care should not stop with the patients. It should extend to the people who keep the institution functioning every day, including those at the bottom of the salary scale.
So the people speak out and you threatening their daily bread? Waw
So they can find money to pay a private company to do the laundry, but can’t sit down and work out a fair payment with the workers already doing the job? Something not adding up here
This guy Philip is a real yard boii. So because people are fighting for their rights ur talking about suspension. Its people like Philip who makes humanity look bad.
I’ve read that there was a sickle cell unit at the hospital. My question is where was this sickle cell unit that they talked about? To my knowledge there was never a sickle cell unit. A unit was created outside of the hospital because of the cries of the patients and families due to patients having to be outside in the hallway for days and night without proper resting place. Tell Mr Phillip to stop telling lies and to speak what God love the truth and nothing but the truth.
Management can get increase but not the regular line staff who is doing all the work while top management and some supervisors who does nothing reap all the benefits. What happen to the regular man aren’t they deserving of a little piece of the pie. Why can’t equal rights and justice prevail. Stop raising your friends and families money or the person with whom you’re in bed with and give the hardworking staff a raise. The whole management team needs to be weed out, too much corruption