Mombasa nurses issue strike notice after allowances are withdrawn
A nurse attends to a patient at the Coast Provincial General Hospital on February 4, 2019. Nurses in Mombasa have issued a seven-day strike notice. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mombasa is one of the counties that had honoured the return to work agreement.
- Other counties that were excluded from the strike include Migori, Machakos and Kwale.
Nurses in Mombasa County have issued a seven-day strike notice after their uniform and the nursing service allowances were withdrawn from their January salaries.
Mombasa is one of the counties that had honoured the return to work agreement.
Other counties that were excluded from the strike include Migori, Machakos and Kwale.
“The money was factored into their January payroll and yesterday (Thursday) the nurses found that it was not reflecting in their accounts and pay slips,” said Mr Michael Opetu, deputy, secretary General Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun).
RECOVER CASH
“This is coming due to intimidation from the Council of Governors, they are threatening county governments who have paid the money to withdraw and recover the cash from nurses’ salaries,” he said.
He added: “We are not taking this kindly, we cannot allow this to happen to our members. Why are they being intimidated for getting what is rightfully theirs,” he posed.
Migori, Kwale and Machakos counties have cleared their allowances.
EIGHT COUNTIES
So far, nurses in eight counties have downed their tools to demand the full implementation of a back to work agreement, even as courts suspended the strike for 60 days.
“Why do governors think they can use other means to demean nurses? We are not going to be cowed by their threats, we will fight until they implement the CBA. We have been lenient to them since 2017,” said Mr Opetu.
