Trade union activist faces groundless dismissal

Dzmitry Luchyts, nurse man and anesthesiologist at the intensive care unit of Brest Regional Hospital No. 1, a member of the trade union of radio-electronic industry (REP), has received a notice that his contract would not be extended. Meanwhile, he did not have any reprimands; on the contrary, during the four years he has proved to be a good specialist.

According to Dzmitry, six months before the incident, he started complaining of an extremely high temperature in the emergency room, that could reach 35 degrees Celsius in summer, while it is necessary that was not above +25. Apart from that, the hospital chiefs cancelled all the benefits for harmful work.

“After I got to talk publicly about the breach of the conditions of work by the administration, I was threatened that I would be fired if I wasn’t silent. Yet, they had no way to dismiss me. They had to wait until the end of the contract. Meanwhile, the hospital lacks over 200 professionals, including 20 in our department,” says Dzmitry Luchyts.

According to Dzmitry, he sent his complaints about the shortcomings in the hospital and the unfounded dismissal of a young doctor to the Ministry of Healthcare and the Ministry of Labor, as well as to the Brest Regional Executive Committee.

Human rights defender and legal inspector of the REP trade union, Uladzimir Malei, says that the legal opportunities provided to the administration to terminate a contract without cause allow getting rid of unwanted and demanding workers, those who have leadership qualities.