A sign against vaccination against Covid-19 is displayed in the camp of unvaccinated strikers opposite Pointe-à-Pitre University Hospital on November 26, 2021. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
Are the strikers of the “bik à rézistans” of the University Hospital (CHU) of Pointe-à-Pitre, after eighteen months of mobilization, about to leave the camp? Since the government announced on March 30th that it would follow the High Authority for Health (HAS)’s opinion in favor of ending compulsory vaccinations against Covid-19 for caregivers, victory may now seem certain due to non-compliance with the law of March 5th. Aug 2021.
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However, there is no triumphant atmosphere at the picket line, which was set up a month after the promulgation of this law making vaccinations compulsory for health professionals. Especially since the Administrative Court of Basse-Terre, in its decision of Tuesday April 4, dismissed sixteen agents who had taken legal action following the CHU’s refusal to reinstate them in June 2022. As for the hopes of the optimists then showered the opinion of HAS. Among the fifteen capitals that make up the village “suspended”, in the outdoor car park of the Hospital of Pointe-à-Pitre, everyday life goes on: sports and cultural activities are still offered on the “Bik” . Thanks to donations raised by the unions, lunch continues to be served free to dozens of the strikers present. Among the bouquets of tropical flowers that adorn the barns, banners in Creole remind us that the fight to reintegrate unvaccinated workers is not over.
“We will not be conducting reinstatement in this manner as if we were outside waiting to be called back to our posts. No, no, no: there are a whole series of things that need to be negotiated beforehand,” explains Elière Guiéba, the new secretary-general of the Union of Health Workers (UTS), the union’s health department. General of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG). In the unionist’s eyes, there remains a “essential struggle” for “taking into account all that we have suffered” since the introduction of compulsory vaccination. “It is important that no one can go back to work in the state we are in now,” argues the affable union official, who was promoted in 2022 within the organization known for its intransigence.
Understanding and prudence of superiors
As the conflict rotted away in the parking lot of this ramshackle hospital, the number of “suspended” gradually dwindled. While it was 1,000 a year ago, “at our most recent count of January 16, 2023, there were 252 in healthcare facilities out of 9,807 identified workers,” notes the Guadeloupe Regional Health Authority. The “collective of fighting organizations”, to which the UGTG and its health division belong, presents a total of at least 450 employees who are to be rehired soon.
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