Ref: 34/2008
Date: 18 September 2008
PCHR Organizes a Workshop on the Civil Service Employees’ Strike
On Thursday, 18 September 2008, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) organized a workshop in the Grand Palace Hotel in Gaza City on “the impacts of public sector employees’ strike on the rights of health and education.” Representatives of health and education syndical bodies, some workers in health, education and human rights sectors and representatives of media institutions attended the workshop.
Khalil Shahin, Director of PCHR Economic and Social Rights Unit, welcomed the participants. He then pointed out the ongoing serious developments related to the health and education sectors as a result of the ongoing strike of employees, impacting all civilians’ right to enjoy the highest attainable standards of health care and educational services. Shahin added that the right to organize strikes is ensured under the international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966. He also stated that the Palestinian Basic Law recognizes the right to organize strikes in conformity with the law; however, the mechanisms of organizing strikes need to be developed in conformity with international criteria that regulate strikes. Shahin affirmed that the organization of strikes should be motivated by struggle to fulfill syndical demands rather than political purposes.
In his intervention, Dr. Tayseer al-Sultan, a member of the Medical Democratic Community, talked about the impacts of the public sector employees’ strike on the right of health. Dr. al-Sultan stated that the strike was launched without the coordination with workers’ syndicates and its timing in inappropriate. He also stated that workers’ syndicates in the Gaza Strip issued a press release in which they indicated that Gaza strikes are illegal and called upon all the workers to resume their work. Dr. al-Sultan affirmed that the health sector is important for every single civilian. He added that health workers would be harassed by the police medical investigation unit of the government of Gaza if they committed to the strike or would be threatened of dismissal or deprivation of salary by the government in Ramallah if they did not commit the strike.
Dr. Bassam Abu Hashish, a lecturer at al-Aqsa University, talked about the impacts of the public sector employees’ strike on the right of education. He stated that the strike was in response to relocations of employees of the education sector that had been managed by the Ministry of Higher Education in Gaza. The relocations included 958 employees from the different educational institutions in the Gaza Strip. Dr. Abu Hashish pointed out that some of these relocations were politically motivated, so he called for establishing a committee to investigate the matter. Dr. Abu Hashish stated that 250,000 students enrolled in public schools have been affected by the strike at the educational sector and they have been deprived of enjoying their right to education that their peers at UNRWA and private schools in the Gaza strip and at schools in the West Bank enjoy.
At the end, discussion was opened for participants who talked about various issues related to the ongoing strikes. Finally, the participants concluded a number of recommendations, including:
– Suspending the ongoing strikes to allow constructive talks.
– Ceasing the policy of mutual media incitement that may complicate the situation.
– Forming a professional independent and unaligned committee to investigate the relocations of employees managed by the Ministry of High Education in Gaza.
– Resuming the payment of salaries that have been cut off for political reasons.
– Immediate release of all employees who have been arrested for committing to the strike.
– Return of all employees to their work places.
– Establishing a committee to settle all disputes of syndical nature.
– Organizing compensatory classes for students for the classes they have missed.
– Cancellation of decisions, including dismissal and relocations of employees, taken by the government of Gaza.
