In Guadeloupe, the bitter end of the ‘paused’ unvaccinated fight against Covid-19

“We’re still here! » To thunderous applause, on Tuesday, November 8, Patricia Pioche, Deputy General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG), closed a meeting with a raised fist that lasted two hours in the parking lot of the University Hospital Center (CHU). Point-a-pitre. For ten months, we have been holding a “Bik” (camp, picket line) here to demand the reinstatement of health workers suspended without vaccination.

When the vaccination obligation was introduced, at the beginning of August 2021, the UGTG reiterated the general feeling of the population, of a deep, clear rejection of the state’s control over the lives of Guadeloupeans. The organization, with its Union of Health Workers (UTS), quickly brought the workers into the deep conflict, still unfinished and a minority – officially 3% of the 3,665 workers at the city’s old CHU, one of the most dilapidated. France does not comply.

The Union has no choice but to bring its troops, despite their fatigue, into confrontation with the Ministries of Health and Foreign Ministries. “They want war, they have it”Gabby Clavier, the lively and fearless boss of UTS, sums it up. which requires direct restoration “suspended” and paying their salary arrears in full. It is based on the fragile decision of the Administrative Court of Guadeloupe, which on October 10 recognized as illegal the retroactive form of the decision to suspend the agent.

“Flood of Misinformation”

On Thursday, October 27, the hospital filed a complaint following a violent incursion by activists who smeared the human resources department with waste oil. The overburdened Pointe-à-Pitre University Hospital has a deficit of €5 million a month and the quality of care is deteriorating due to a lack of equipment. In this atmosphere of the end of the movement, Gabby Klavier sends out a petition of support for the staff in the post. Purpose: to oppose those who claim that the hospital has been reorganized and can do without it “suspended”. Behind the high walls of the hospital, after the debilitating crisis due to Covid-19, the caregivers on the bridge do not look favorably on the jackpot of undone work. For months, the violence of the movement left its mark: the general manager was beaten and threatened with death, doctors’ cars had their tires slashed, and the building was damaged.

With a double vaccination rate of 42%, 25% with three doses, Guadeloupe remained at the bottom of the national peloton.