Doctors issue strike notice, dismiss SRC job evaluation report

Doctors and nurses Saturday issued separate 21-day strike notices, saying that the salaries commission had duped them with the job evaluation released Friday.

They said that the report by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission had not only delayed their separate pay deals, it had also failed to quote exact figures of what they should earn.

While the doctors demanded a 300 per cent pay increase, the nurses said demanded a salary increment of between 25 to 40 per cent and an allowance increase of 14 to 25 per cent.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union issued their strike notice in Nairobi while the Kenya National Union of Nurses issued theirs in Kisumu.

This follows a job evaluation report issued by the SRC on Friday that they said failed to address their concerns.

The SRC released a new job structure for the country’s over 600,000 public servants which seeks to, among other things, bridge the gap between the highest and lowest pay earners.

“SRC has been lying to us for 17 months using the job evaluation thing to delay our CBA and pay increase. Yesterday, they released a report full of nonsense with no figures of what exactly a doctor should earn,” KMPDU Secretary General Ouma Oluga said at the Nairobi Public Service Club.

“We are tired of waiting and are today issuing a 21-day strike notice to start on December 5 if we do not get the agreed 300 per cent pay increase.”

In the pay increase, the highest paid doctor will earn Sh946,000 while the lowest paid will take home Sh342,770.

Currently, the lowest paid doctor earns a basic salary of Sh40,000 that the union Saturday said was too little for their hard work.

“Doctors work 450 hours a month, earning a paltry Sh70 per hour. That is after spending six years in undergraduate, five in Masters education and then on day offs, no holidays and losing a life because of the demands of the job. How then do you pay them Sh70 per hour?” asked KMPDU chair Samwel Oroko.

In Kisumu, the nurses led by the secretary General Seth Panyako said that the SRC, the national and county governments had negated on their promise of a CBA.

Mr Panyako accused SRC chair Sarah Serem of "duplicating job the newly advertised job groups from previous documents".

He said the advertised job groups have been in existence.

"On December 5, services in all public hospitals will be paralysed should the government fail to heed to our demands. The salaries commission has misled the public,” said Mr Panyako during the union's national governing council meeting at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu on Saturday.

“The CBA we agreed on was never signed, concluded with proper financial allocation made.”