France’s healthcare workers, who received wide public and official praise for their handling of the Covid-19 virus epidemic, are to hold nationwide demonstrations on Tuesday to highlight their longstanding demands over improved pay and conditions and hospital funding, and which had reached a stalemate last year. The street marches on Tuesday represent a show of force during an ongoing consultation process between unions and the government over pay, staffing levels and financing which was launched in May as a result of the health crisis. Meanwhile, non-medical hospital bio-cleaning and catering staff who also played a key role during the epidemic, but who complain of being overlooked, are demanding an end to a system of short-term contracts.
As the Covid-19 virus epidemic in France appears to be largely contained and hospitalisations for the disease steadily decrease from a mid-April peak of more than 32,000, hospital staff are hoping that the public and official praise and recognition they received during the crisis will result in concrete measures to meet their longstanding demands over pay and conditions.
