Mailu urges doctors to drop strike threat, seeks dialogue

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu addressing the press at Afya House on October 30, 2016. He appeared before the Senate health committee on November 8, 2016 over Sh5billion scandal at his ministry. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | MEDIA GROUP.

What you need to know:

  • The doctors are demanding implementation of a new pay package agreed on in 2013 and say they will not enter into any other Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) until the salary structure negotiated and signed by the two sides — three years ago — is implemented.
  • Negotiations between the two sides in the last one month have collapsed with each party maintaining a hard-line position, based on the CBA negotiated and signed on June 27, 2013.
  • While the doctors want the revised pay package implemented in arrears and backdated to 2013, the government, through the Ministry of Health and the office of the Attorney General had cited legal bottlenecks which it says, have rendered the CBA in dispute invalid.

The government on Wednesday called doctors back to the negotiating table following threats to go on strike next week.

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu said on Wednesday this evening the call to strike by the doctors union was in bad faith and meant to frustrate government efforts to address the issues raised by the Employment and Labour Relations Court last month.

The doctors in public hospitals intend to down their tools come Monday after the expiry of their 21-day strike notice they issued on December 4.

The doctors are demanding implementation of a new pay package agreed on in 2013 and say they will not enter into any other Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) until the salary structure negotiated and signed by the two sides — three years ago — is implemented.

Negotiations between the two sides in the last one month have collapsed with each party maintaining a hard-line position, based on the CBA negotiated and signed on June 27, 2013.

While the doctors want the revised pay package implemented in arrears and backdated to 2013, the government, through the Ministry of Health and the office of the Attorney General had cited legal bottlenecks which it says, have rendered the CBA in dispute invalid.

The union chairman said the doctors will not negotiate a new CBA in the place of what was agreed on and has been pending.

“We are not again going to negotiate on those figures we agreed on. We want the money backdated. In fact we should by now be negotiating a new CBA after implementation of the earlier one,” he stated.

Three meetings have been convened since November 14 when the doctors issued a strike notice, but according to the doctors’ union — which represented the close to 3,000 doctors — both were unproductive.

“The meetings were very unproductive because we expected The National Treasury to come with figures on how much they would pay the doctors on immediate terms but they failed to do so,” the national chairman Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Dr Samuel Oroko said in an interview on Wednesday.

Both sides accuse each other of lack of commitment and goodwill.

“Since the start of the negotiations, there have been three meetings involving all key stakeholders. This notwithstanding, the union has not shown commitment evidenced by its various requests for adjournment of meetings purportedly to consult as the D-day for the planned strike draws near,” the Health CS said, as he called on the union to call off the strike.

Speaking to Nation earlier in the day, the doctors union said both Treasury and the Attorney General were part of the negotiations that preceded the 2013 pay package agreement and that the government was fully represented.

“Those are not figures of the union but what the government agreed on. In fact we had proposed a minimum of Sh500,000 for the lowest paid doctor but the government bargained and proposed the figures in the CBA,” he said.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health in a statement issued to the press defended the Ministry saying contrary to the union’s claims, it had embarked on the process of bringing other stakeholders together to begin negotiations.

Dr Mailu said the Ministry had convened a negotiation team comprising all stakeholders including the Council of Governors, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, The National Treasury and the office of the Attorney General to negotiate with the union with a view to bring the matter to close.

“For avoidance of doubt, the negotiations between KMPDU and the various stakeholders commenced on November 16 and members of the negotiating team were addressed by myself and the PS for Health,” he said.

A follow up meeting was held on November 23 where the CS and Kisii Governor James Ongwae who is also the chair of the human resource sub-committee of the Council of Governors met the negotiating team.

“We asked the team to show commitment to the negotiations even as the Governor pledged support from the Council of Governors to the negotiation process,” the CS said.

Before it issued the strike notice, the union claims it had unsuccessfully tried to reach out to the government for talks in line with directions that were issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court on October 4, 2016.

“As a union, we wanted to discuss the implementation of the salaries and the CBA, backdated, and agree on the framework of what can be availed now,” the union chairman told the Nation.co.ke

Justice Monicah Mbaru had directed the two parties to convene talks within 30 days to resolve issues around the disputed CBA. She had also directed the government to submit to the court the CBA for registration within 90 days.

The CBA in dispute was reached after two years of negotiations that followed the 2011 national strike that paralysed operations in public hospitals.

Initially, the doctors had demanded a Sh500,000 package for the lowest paid doctor, which was negotiated downwards with government representatives to a maximum of Sh342,770 and a minimum of Sh325,730 for the entry level, inclusive of allowances.

The agreement would see the highest paid doctor take home a total package of Sh946,000 maximum and Sh852, 180 minimum, up from between Sh328,060 and a maximum of Sh538,980, currently.

The close to 3,000 doctors insist they want to discuss the implementation of the salaries in line with the agreement before anything else.

“We maintain that we are not going into legal issues but focusing on the court’s advice and implementation of the negotiated salaries and other parts of the CBA,” Dr Oroko stated.

Dr Oroko insists there is no goodwill from the government side. “They don’t want to discuss it. They cite legal issues and whether the CBA was procedurally signed even after the court’s determination on the same issue,” he said.