A month-long strike at ProMED — a disease-surveillance system that issued some of the earliest warnings about outbreaks of pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 and Ebola — will end on 11 September. In response to a request from their employer that staff members return to work or leave the service, at least 24 of the 26 striking personnel plan to return, even though they are not satisfied that all of their demands have been met.
According to a letter seen by Nature that was sent on 30 August to administrators at the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID), which operates ProMED, the striking staff members will resume their usual work scouring through tips and local news outlets for evidence of disease outbreaks and providing expert commentary on 11 September.
But the staff members say that their return is contingent on ISID working in good faith with them to address the issues that sparked the walkout, such as increased transparency and communication within the organization, and developing partnerships with outside organizations to assist with the programme’s financial problems.
The staff members made their decision with ProMED’s readership in mind, says Leo Liu, an associate editor at ProMED who is based near Boston, Massachusetts, and who has served as a spokesperson for the striking workers.
In a reply to the striking staff members on 30 August, ISID has accepted their conditions.
Transparency issues
ProMED publicizes news of potential pathogen outbreaks occurring around the world through its website and an e-mail newsletter that has tens of thousands of subscribers. There are usually around 8–10 posts daily, covering subjects such as foodborne illnesses and various pathogens.
The events that prompted the strike began on 14 July, when ISID sent an e-mail to ProMED subscribers saying that it planned to implement a subscription model that would charge users to access the programme’s archive, which had previously been free. ProMED’s 38 editors and moderators had not been consulted or made aware of these changes.
Around the same time, ISID told ProMED staff members that some of the modest stipends that they usually receive for their work would be delayed until the end of September. Citing a lack of transparency around ISID’s decisions, nearly two-thirds of ProMED staff members sent out an e-mail on 3 August to users announcing a work stoppage.
The staff members have called on ISID to partner with outside organizations to co-host ProMED, to provide transparency to its personnel, to have voting representation on the ISID executive committee and to ensure ProMED’s editorial and administrative independence from ISID.
ISID’s chief executive Linda MacKinnon, based in Brookline, Massachusetts, responded to these concerns in a public letter on 4 August, saying that the paywall system was necessary because ProMED was in dire financial straits, and that she would work with the striking staff members to address their concerns.
Since then, ISID has received a letter of intent from a potential partner, according to a 25 August e-mail to ProMED staff members from Julia Maxwell, director of disease surveillance at ISID, that was shared with Nature. But those conversations were in their infancy, she wrote, and she expected it would take “many months of discussion before there would be anything concrete to share”.
Recommit, or move on
In the same e-mail, Maxwell issued what ProMED personnel say amounted to an ultimatum: “For anyone we do not hear from by Wednesday, August 30th by 5PM ET., we will assume you have elected to move on from ProMED and we wish you the very best. For those who choose to recommit to ProMED, we plan to have September 1st be our first day back at “full” capacity with those members of the team who remain.”
Liu says that it was frustrating to be asked to return while still awaiting payment for work completed months ago. Asked about the e-mail, MacKinnon said it was an “internal HR matter” that would be “inappropriate to comment on”.
Most of the strikers have now signalled that they will return to work on 11 September. Although ISID hasn’t met all of the group’s original demands, the strike action achieved its core goals of raising awareness of staff concerns and attracting interest in support from potential partners, says Liu. He adds that an offer from ISID — as outlined in Maxwell’s e-mail — to host more regular meetings with ProMED staff, and its conversations with potential partners will hopefully address other parts of the dispute.
MacKinnon says that ISID still plans to move forward with its “modernization plans”, which include a subscription model. “Such changes are difficult but, in this case, are necessary for the continued viability of the programme,” she says.