--- title: Ebola Health Care Workers Defy Calls to Strike in Liberia description: Nurses and doctors continued to care for the sick canonical: https://time.com/3501906/ebola-liberia-strike/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-13T14:32:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:44:37.768Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola Health Care Workers Strike in Liberia og:description: Nurses and doctors continued to care for the sick og:url: https://time.com/3501906/ebola-liberia-strike/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1a808fb2766838/6987604a06f2c17add331517/ebola-liberia-strike.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Liberia Races To Expand Ebola Treatment Facilities, As U.S. Troops Arrive og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Health Care Workers Strike in Liberia twitter:description: Nurses and doctors continued to care for the sick twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1a808fb2766838/6987604a06f2c17add331517/ebola-liberia-strike.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ebola Health Care Workers in Liberia Defy Call to Strike by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 13, 2014 2:32 PM UTC  An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 10, 2014 An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 10, 2014John Moore—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 13, 2014 2:32 PM UTC _Updated 1:24 p.m. ET_ Liberian health care workers [largely ignored](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29591805) a call [to strike](http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-health-workers-strike-monday-could-hurt-ebola-185038300--business.html) Monday, despite claims that an estimated [80%](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-13/liberia-ebola-workers-strike-as-80-without-safety-equipment-1-.html) of them are being forced to go without adequate supplies to fight the Ebola outbreak that has claimed more than 4,000 lives in west Africa. The government had asked health care workers to be reasonable, arguing a strike would have negative consequences on the containment of the outbreak, [BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29591805). Liberia’s National Health Workers Association had called the strike demanding [an increase in hazard pay](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/10/liberia-nurses-threaten-strike-over-ebola-pay-20141012134754218261.html) Liberia is one of countries hit hardest by the Ebola outbreak, with 3,924 cases of the more than 8,000 total. Thousands of health care workers were due to stop treating patients as part of the strike, Reuters reports. But most medical staff continued continued caring for the sick Monday. “There needs to be a proper coordination of what is being donated by the international community,” George Williams, the Liberia Health Workers Association secretary-general [told Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-13/liberia-ebola-workers-strike-as-80-without-safety-equipment-1-.html). “We’re hearing about millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being donated and we appreciate every cent. But we need to see it at the health facilities.” Despite the fact that the most health care workers continued to treat patients, the workers association said they don’t have enough equipment to protect themselves and that the government is not meeting their needs. [Ebola health care workers are dying faster than their patients](http://time.com/3453429/ebola-healthcare-workers-fatality-rate/). \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29591805)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3501906/ebola-liberia-strike/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3501906/ebola-liberia-strike/"},"headline":"Ebola Health Care Workers in Liberia Defy Call to Strike","datePublished":"2014-10-13T14:32:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:44:37.768Z","description":"Nurses and doctors continued to care for the sick","url":"https://time.com/3501906/ebola-liberia-strike/","keywords":["ebola","Liberia","Ebola outbreak","strike"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1a808fb2766838/6987604a06f2c17add331517/ebola-liberia-strike.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1a808fb2766838/6987604a06f2c17add331517/ebola-liberia-strike.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Liberia Races To Expand Ebola Treatment Facilities, As U.S. Troops Arrive","caption":"Liberia Races To Expand Ebola Treatment Facilities, As U.S. Troops Arrive","creditText":"John Moore—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3501906/ebola-liberia-strike/","name":"Ebola Health Care Workers in Liberia Defy Call to Strike"}}]}] ```