(Fort-de-France) The government is considering an “individual solution” for the nursing staff and firefighters of Guadeloupe to be suspended, because reluctant to compulsory vaccination, according to the Ministry of Overseas, while the prefect of Martinique, where the crisis has spread, on Thursday established a curfew in the face of nighttime urban violence.
At the end of a videoconference meeting with the Minister of Overseas Overseas Sébastien Lecornu, the president of the Association of Mayors of Guadeloupe Jocelyn Sapotille argued that the suspension of the vaccination obligation “initially refused, today (was) studied ”by the government.
“We are not asking to repeal the law, it applies, but we are asking for a parenthesis to resolve the situation of 1,200 to 1,300 Guadeloupeans who will find themselves without income” because suspended, he added to the press.
But a spokesperson for the cabinet of the Ministry of Overseas Territories told AFP that “the vaccination obligation for caregivers and firefighters will not be lifted”.
The Overseas Ministry is committed to “apply the law with proportionality and discernment within the framework of the local authorities of dialogue and listening”, specifies a press release published at the end of the meeting in which the prefect also participated. , members of the offices of the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Solidarity and Health.
“It is legitimate that an individual solution can be offered to each staff to be suspended” added the ministry, which will hold a similar meeting on Friday at 3 pm with the president of the regional council, the president of the departmental council and the parliamentarians of the territory. from Guadeloupe.
While opposition to compulsory vaccination was the trigger for the crisis, which extended to social demands, the mayors of Guadeloupe also propose that caregivers who do not wish to be vaccinated be subjected to PCR tests. “Regular”.
“Interministerial work must […] continue in the coming hours to announce the chosen strategy, ”the ministry said.
Elected officials also request the arrival of Sébastien Lecornu on site “within a fairly short timeframe” and the opening of a debate on a possible change in the status of Guadeloupe.
According to the ministry, Sébastien Lecornu will go “soon on the spot”, but such a trip “must not be organized under pressure and must be part of specific and shared commitments”.
“Chain resignations”
The crisis has spread to Martinique, a neighboring department where, like his counterpart in Guadeloupe last Friday, the prefect imposed a curfew, “from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.”
Its objective is “the return to a peaceful situation” which “then allows (you) to dialogue, work, move forward”, but also “the return of public service and the reopening of the school system”, indicated the prefect. from Martinique Stanislas Cazelle to AFP.
Security will be reinforced from Thursday night to Friday, he said, “with a more mobile device and more to target the most difficult points.”
The blockades of certain axes continued Thursday on the two islands.
In Guadeloupe, Thursday was however rather calm, with cleaning operations and new “throwing stones at dams” according to a judicial source.
In Martinique, detonations were heard Thursday around 5:30 p.m. and large black smoke appeared in the sky above Châteauneuf, noted an AFP journalist.
Tensions at Pointe-à-Pitre hospital since the start of the general strike on November 15 are starting to have their effects: an association of interns invoked on Wednesday the right of withdrawal of its members for “imminent danger” and hospital doctors are resigning.
“I do not understand that union action is geared towards obstacles to the work tool […] towards intimidation, insults, attacks against staff and particularly doctors, ”declared the director of the CHU, Gérard Cotellon, on RCI Guadeloupe radio. “I am starting to pay the consequences of all that: they are resignations in chain”.
The management of the Martinique CHU for its part announced that “in the current context”, it was forced “to activate the minimum service on all the sites of the CHUM in order to secure professionals and patients”, due to “Great difficulties in providing care in the institution”.
In Martinique too, local and national authorities have opened the door to dialogue with unions and elected officials.
The leaders of the 17 trade unions, the prefect and the president of the executive council of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique, Serge Letchimy, thus participated Thursday in a conciliation meeting at the prefecture. The participants came out after 4 hours, but none had wished to express themselves so far on the content of the discussions.