Governors blame SRC over nurses’ pay row

Governors on Sunday sought to absolve themselves from blame over the nurses' pay row and accused the salaries commission of delaying the signing of a collective bargaining agreement.

They asked the nurses not to carry out their strike threat on Monday, urging them to wait for the deal to be endorsed.

The Kenya National Union of Nurses has directed all its 45,000 members to stay away from their duties starting Monday morning until the CBA is signed and implemented.

But Council of Governors chief executive Jacqueline Omogeni asked them to give the Salaries Remuneration Commission more time to approve the CBA.

“The Council reiterates that it is committed to the conclusion of this process in a manner that is legal, acceptable and registrable. There is no point in any side of the negotiating teams putting pressure on other partners. The negotiating team is awaiting just for a no-objection and then the process of signing will start” she said.

BEING INSENSITIVE

The nurses’ union has accused the counties of being insensitive to their plight.

The council and the commission held a meeting on May 26 in which they agreed to upgrade the pay for nurses and to have governors adopt the agreement by June 2.

This was however not done, prompting union to issue the strike notice.

READ: Doctors and nurses to get paid, governors say

The union’s acting secretary general Maurice Opetu on Friday directed the nurses not to report to work on Monday until their demands are met.

DEAL NOT SIGNED

“Between now and Monday, if the deal is not signed, the nurses are not going to report on duty on June 5. We are going to down our tools at midnight on Sunday,” Mr Opetu.

Ms Mogeni wrote to the commission’s chief executive Anne Gitau on May 23 asking her to give her approval to pave the way for the deal’s implementation.

The strike threat comes six months after a return-to-work formula between the union and the governors was agreed upon.