The posting of a Labour Act notice in wards across the Owen King European Union Hospital (OKEUH) is drawing concern from staff at a time when the Millennium Heights Medical Complex (MHMC) is navigating separate workplace issues involving doctors and nurses.
The notices, bearing the MHMC logo and headed “The Labour Act,” reproduce Sections 393(1) and 392(3) of the legislation, drawing attention to restrictions surrounding industrial action in essential services and a possible fine of up to $5,000 for anyone who incites, encourages, persuades or influences an essential-service employee to participate in industrial action contrary to the Act.
Section 393(1), also reproduced on the notice, requires an employer in an essential service to keep a printed copy of Section 392(3) posted in a conspicuous place in the workplace where it can conveniently be read.
However, some staff are questioning the timing of the administration’s decision to post the notice in wards across the hospital, with concerns currently simmering among different categories of employees.
Doctors represented by the Saint Lucia Medical and Dental Association (SLMDA) remain at odds with MHMC over retroactive payment of negotiated allowances, despite the signing of a Collective Bargaining Agreement covering 2025 to 2028.
Following a July 23 meeting involving the Ministry of Labour, MHMC and the SLMDA, the agreement was executed on July 27, with the negotiated allowances to take effect from July 2026.But the question of retroactive compensation was not settled.
The Labour Commissioner subsequently communicated Government’s position that retrospective implementation could not be supported because of the financial implications and the precedent it could establish for future collective bargaining settlements throughout the Public Service. The SLMDA pushed back in a July 29 letter, insisting that it had never agreed to remove retroactive compensation from the table.
The Association is seeking payment of the allowances at least from January 2026, arguing that had the agreement been concluded in a timely manner, hospital-based doctors would already have benefited. It has also pointed to primary-care colleagues who, it says, have benefited from provisions of their agreement since July 2025.
Doctors are not the only employees with concerns.
Nurses are also expressing unease over a proposed change to their working hours after MHMC informed nursing staff of plans to pilot a three-shift work schedule in October 2026. A July 28 memorandum from MHMC’s Human Resources Department to all nursing team members said the hospital has continued operating a 12-hour shift system since 2021, when workforce and service-delivery pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic led to its continuation.
According to MHMC, the arrangement helped maintain continuity of patient care, manage limited staffing and reduce the impact of nurses migrating to countries including the United Kingdom and United States.
The hospital now intends to test the previously negotiated three-shift system for one month to assess its operational, clinical and workforce implications. Among the areas to be examined are continuity and quality of patient care, staffing coverage, employee fatigue and well-being, attendance and absenteeism, overtime costs, operational efficiency and staff preferences.
Nurses are expected to return to the 12-hour shift system in November while the results are assessed, with MHMC indicating that a decision on whether to adopt the three-shift system or retain the existing arrangement will be made in December.
The hospital has stressed that the October exercise is a pilot and “does not represent a final decision to permanently change the existing work schedule.” It has also said nurses will be able to provide feedback on the benefits and challenges they experience.
The memorandum, however, states that employees are “expected to cooperate fully with the temporary arrangements,” as some nurses raise concerns about the proposed change and its potential impact on their working lives.
The administration is simultaneously expected to continue engagement with employee representatives on matters extending beyond compensation and working arrangements.
