Pusetu issues strike notice over delayed salaries
Charles Mukhwaya, the secretary-general of the Federation of Public Service Trade Unions of Kenya (Pusetu-K). PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Health care providers have been protesting over delayed salaries by the county governments
- Chairman of Council of Governors Isaac Ruto has been saying county governments are not to blame over the delay
A workers' union on Tuesday asked the national government to intervene in the ongoing strike by health-care providers over delayed salaries to alleviate suffering in public hospitals.
The Federation of Public Service Trade Unions of Kenya (Pusetu-K) asked the government to urgently convene a joint meeting of all parties in dispute with a view to resolving the impasse through “mutual return-to-work formula”.
“If the government (national government) fails to resolve the impasse within 14 days, we shall ask all the workers to down their tools,” Pusetu-K general-secretary Charles Mukhwaya said at a press conference called by the union at the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) headquarters in Nairobi.
EBOLA THREAT
He said it was a serious matter for health workers to go on strike at this time when the country is faced by the Ebola threat.
Dr Mukhwaya was flanked by Pusetu's chairman, Tom Odege, and Dr Victor Ng’ani, the chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU).
Other unions present included Knut and Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu). They were represented by their respective secretary-generals, Wilson Sossion and and Dr Muga K’Olale.
The unions had all come to show their solidarity with KMPDU — a union for medical doctors that has been supporting the strike by health workers in public health facilities.
LACK CAPACITY
The workers have been protesting over their delayed salaries, which are supposed to be paid by the respective county governments. The workers say county governments do not have the capacity to manage public health facilities.
Isaac Ruto, the chairman of the Council of Governors, has been saying that county governments are not to blame for the delay, and that the fault lies with the national Treasury.
Dr Mukhwaya said Pusetu-K had decided to support the action taken by the health workers after studying the dispute.
“Pusetu-K calls upon the county governments to immediately pay all the said workers their delayed July salaries and other outstanding emoluments to avert continued withdrawal of labour and subsequently alleviate the suffering that Kenyans seeking health-care services are currently facing,” the general-secretary said.
