Nurses suspend strike call for 30 days

The Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) on Sunday suspended their call for strike for 30 days saying the government had accepted to hold talks over grievances they raised in a strike notice issued three weeks ago.

"We find the actions taken by the government towards the strike notice issued by nurses as appropriate and expeditious. We are in an era where everybody must follow the rule of law,” said Knun General Secretary Seth Panyako.

“But there should be no action of victimisation from any side. We are suspending this strike; we are not calling it off, for 30 days to pave the way for negotiations,” he added.

The Union said the government had appointed a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour to help resolve the matters from Thursday this week.

The Union, which is barely a year old and yet to be fully registered had on September 17, issues the government with a strike notice unless a list of 17 ‘problems’ were solved.

Incidentally, top on the list was the demand for the Ministry of Labour to grant them the final certificate of registration. On Sunday, Mr Panyako claimed the Union is now fully recognised.

“The correct position is that our Union is a legal and that is why the ministry is engaging us and the Registrar of Trade Unions has issued us with a letter,” he said.

But the union was also demanding extraneous allowances and the “realignment of the salary structure for civil servants” such that every nurse receives at least 17 per cent salary increment.

“Nurses earn Sh20,000. What would you budget for that amount? Would you educate your child with Sh20,000? Is it food you would buy or your family to clothing?” These kind of contracts for our nurses are modern-day slavery,” Mr Panyako said.

In a two-page notice given to the Ministry of Medical Services, Ministry of Public Health, Salaries and Remunerations Commission and the Ministry of Labour, the Union accused the government of “fleecing” nurses by remitting their dues to the Union of Civil Servants which they claim they are not members.

They had also demanded that “qualified” nurses be appointed to head boards of health institutions in the country, such as the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

The suspension of the strike would now allow for talks between the nurses and government representatives and could come as a relief to the sick in public hospitals, which are already crippled by the on-going doctors’ strike.

“The strike that is going on by the medical doctors has adversely affected service delivery because nursing services run alongside the doctors’ services," he said.

“The absence of doctors has increased deaths at our health facilities that would otherwise have been prevented,” he added.