Striking Nyeri health workers face the axe as talks fail
Health workers in Nyeri protest during their strike on August 25, 2015. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |
What you need to know:
- Work boycott in hospitals continues.
- Nurses and other medical staff ordered to return to work but they remain adamant.
All striking health workers in Nyeri may be sacked after talks with their representatives collapsed.
A standoff ensued between the county government and the workers’ representatives on Wednesday evening after county officials asked them to resume work before negotiations could start.
The talks started at 4pm and ended after 10 minutes when the representatives walked out on the county chiefs. The two groups then called parallel press conferences at 5pm.
Health Executive Secretary Charles Githinji maintained that the strike must be called off before a return-to-work formula is discussed.
“Before we start dialogue, they must first obey the court order, otherwise we will take disciplinary action against the workers and replace them,” he said.
SHOW-CAUSE LETTER
Clinical officers, laboratory technicians and other support staff who had not issued a strike notice were on Thursday handed a show-cause letter asking them to explain why they were not working, said a statement from the county government.
“Cases of health workers not part of the nurses will be treated as desertion of duty,” said Dr Githinji. “If they cannot explain why they were not working, they will definitely go home.”
He asked the nurses to consider the consequences of contempt of court. On Thursday, last week, the county government asked a court to stop the strike, but the nurses claimed they had not received any order from the Labour Relations Court.
County officials said they would request the court to take a disciplinary action against the health workers.
Kenya National Union of Nurses officials said they would continue with the strike saying county officials had not shown any commitment to resolve their grievances.
“They may have threatened to sack us but there is no way we are returning to work with that kind of intimidation. Let them learn how to deal with the people they have employed,” said Ms Ann Nyawira, the union’s Nyeri branch chairperson.
Secretary-General Seth Panyako on Thursday accused the Nyeri county government of failing to treat the strike seriously.
