Workers, including doctors, nurses and technical staff at the Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon have voted to continue strike action in support of their demand for more staff and improved conditions.
Strike observance is high amongst medical staff who have organised the strike to protest against understaffing and unsafe working conditions. Those who have been requisitioned to work during the strike (and face legal action if they refuse) have attended work wearing armbands with 'striker' written on them.
According to strikers the emergency unit is only staffed at 80% of the required level, as a result patient care suffers. This leads to medical staff performing tasks for which they are not trained, authorised or paid. Furthermore these tasks are carried out by overworked and tired people out of a feeling of obligation to their patients; patients from whom they are actually risk from: with wait times reaching 10 hours patients often become aggressive, leading to violence and assault.
The strike, organised with the support of the CFDT union is renewed on a daily basis by a vote of workers.
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