Health workers strike is still on

Kenya National Union of Nurses Secretary General Seth Panyako (right) with the Union chairman John Bii during a press briefing in Kisumu on November 12 2016. The union issued a 21 days strike if the CBA is not signed by the government.

Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and other medical staff unions have rejected the Sh3.3 billion offer to health workers by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Speaking during a press briefing, the unions have termed the offer by SRC as discriminatory.
“It beats any logic at how they have arrived at different figures for different cardres yet none of the union leaders have been involved in negotiations of the allowances, “says Peterson Wachira, chair Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO).

According to George Gibore, the Secretary General KUCO, the rationale that should be used by the commission on giving allowances should be focused only on medics in the highest risk of contracting coronavirus.
The union now wants SRC to harmonize the risk allowances.

The strike on May 18 is still on, “says Gibore.
“SRC has provoked us even more, SRC should repent for their tyranny of mistakes,” adds Mohammed Duba, chairperson Kenya Health Professionals Society (KHPS).

According to the secretary general KNUN Seth Panyako, the ministry of health is now a ministry for doctors only but the union will not sit back and watch as that happens.

Yesterday the Salaries and Remuneration Commission approved the disbursement of Sh3.3 billion to meet medical emergency allowance and benefits for the health workers for the next three months effective April 1.