I have been working at the Alzheimer Centre Jihlava as a social services worker for six years. I have always found this work meaningful and I have great respect for my colleagues.
With the advent of the covid pandemic, this job has become even more challenging, but we have always tried to manage everything and take the best care of our service users. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2021, following a change in the director of our facility, management stopped communicating with staff and the conditions for our work became unbearable. Some colleagues resigned and the situation in the workplace became unbearable.
We therefore decided to join the Alice union and try to dialogue with the employer in this way. This decision alone encouraged our colleagues to continue working because they believed that together we could improve the conditions for our work. In May, we announced the scope of the union to the employer and started to meet regularly to consult, plan and support each other. Since they had elected me as chairman, I felt very responsible and, frankly, worried about whether I could live up to their expectations.
After my first meeting with my employer, I knew that the decision to join the union was the right one. Communication started to work and we were promised a remedy. After two months, we were able to work together to get central management to remove the facility director. We perceived this move by the employer as a signal that he was able to acknowledge our legitimate demands and was willing to discuss everything with us.
This encouraged us and in September we submitted a draft collective agreement to the employer. In particular, we wanted to get an increase in wages, which are around 20,000 CZK for caregivers, an increase in the number of staff and the opportunity to comment on the new guidelines. The collective agreement negotiations were calm, constructive and effective. I think that both sides tried to find a compromise and a common solution. I left each meeting with a good feeling. I informed my colleagues what other points we had discussed and how pleased I was. It was agreed that we would sign the contract by the end of the year and it would start in January 2022.
Unfortunately, at the meeting in December when I was expecting the contract to be signed, we were told that we would be moving to a new employer, the investment company Penta, and that it would be unfair to them to sign a collective agreement without their opinion and consent. They sternly announced that they would not sign the contract, wished us a happy holiday season and would meet with representatives of the future employer in January.
Sadness, frustration, hopelessness. So much time, work, and all for nothing? They've been lying to me the whole time, just buying time? What do I tell my colleagues? They all expect us to close the deal today. What else can I do? All these questions ran through my head at the same time. There was only one answer. Tell my colleagues the outcome of the meeting, wish them a good holiday, rest and start again in January.
The meeting in January, attended among others by Boris Št'astný, a representative of Penta, took place in a friendly atmosphere, yet we still had three months of intense negotiations and uncertainty ahead of us. On 7 April 2022, the collective agreement was signed. The increase in wages for employees, the increase in the number of direct care workers are the points that pleased my colleagues the most. Personally, I see it as the most important that thanks to the trade unions, a dialogue between employees and the employer was initiated. I know that there is still a lot of work to be done, but I believe that if there is interest and effort on both sides, we will find solutions to all the problems that are troubling us. I am convinced that there should be a union in every nursing home and that this is the way to gradually improve working conditions in the absolutely key caring professions that society cannot do without.
The author is the vice-president of the Social Services Employees Union - ALICE.
