Nurses across Tana River County under the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) have joined their colleagues in a nationwide strike, aimed to among other grievances push the Government to honour a 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The nurses are further accusing the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors of delaying the full absorption of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) nurses into permanent and pensionable.
Addressing the press at the onset of their strike in Hola town, KNUN secretary general for Tana River branch Richard Onchiri said that they had already informed their county government that their serves would not be available, noting that they would only return to work when their demands have been met.
The union further wants the Tana River County Government to reinstate a section of nurses who were fired during a previous strike in the county.
“We have called this meeting with all the nurses in the county to officially joining our colleagues countrywide in this strike. Nurses have been so patient for a long time, since our CBA with national and county governments in 2017. We have informed our county that we are on strike, and it will continue until the day that our demands will be met,” Onchiri said.
“We urge the counties and the National Government to listen to our grievances because it is not our wish that we strike, we love our patients but at the same time, we cannot work with empty stomach,” he added.
Damon Kwaraa, the National Deputy chair of the Union of Kenya civil servants chapter for nurses and midwives on his part insisted that for the strike to end, the government must show a commitment by opening dialogues and setting aside a budget for the previous CBAs to be implemented.
“We have seen the contrasts between the county governments and the national government on employing our UHC workers on permanent and pensionable terms. Our view is that the government has no choice in this issue, we no longer want to be employed as casuals, we want to see appointment letters on permanent and pensionable terms,” Kwaraa said.
“If the government says it is ready to honour our CBA, and we see the budget for the required funds is set aside and passed by the county assemblies, then we will consider going back to work, otherwise we will not recall this strike,” he added.
Other grievances in the national strike include failure to implement the new SRC salary Structure for 2024 contained in SRC circular, failure by the County Government to negotiate and conclude CBAs, Illegal deduction of agency fee by Kenyatta National Hospital and failure to remit 3rd party deductions.
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