The Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) on Sunday, May 14, issued a 60-day strike notice to government over failure to sign Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with health workers.
KNUN in a joint statement with Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers (KNUMLO), Kenya National Union of Pharmaceutical Technologists (KNUPT), and Kenya Union of Nutritionists and Dieticians (KUNAD) urged the Ministry of Health to urgently facilitate signing of CBAs with county governments for the unions, failure to which they will down their tools.
Speaking during a press conference in Nairobi, KNUN Secretary General Seth Panyako explained that President William Ruto’s government had shortchanged health workers.
“We have given government enough time, the Ministry of Health should facilitate CBA signing which was started in 2017 to be concluded in 60 days,” Panyako stated.
He explained that health workers unions had written several letters to the government about the matter but the Ministry of Health was not acting, with an excuse of still transitioning to the new Kenya Kwanza government.
KUCO secretary general George Gibore lamented that county governments were frustrating unions efforts in finalizing drafting of CBAs and urged President William Ruto to intervene in the matter.
“Health workers have not enjoyed a pay rise for the last 7 years. A health worker was poorer today than they were 7 years ago due to the current inflation, a fact that has seen Kenya lose many highly specialized and experienced health workers to other countries,” read part of the unions joint statement.
At the same time, Panyako urged government to employ more health workers in the country.
On the other hand, the union representatives argued that some counties were subjecting health workers to poor working conditions due to lack of CBAs in place.
“While CBAs for KUCO and KNUN remained unconcluded, the other unions have not been able to start off the process and have been denied recognition agreements. It is now clear there are delay measures to delay the process and deny health workers their right to fair remuneration, reasonable working environment and collective bargaining,” read part of the statement by the unions.
The union representatives lamented that, they were struggling with their daily activities due to the poor salaries at the time when the country was facing the issue of high cost of living.
They at the same time opposed Finance Bill 2023, arguing that the bill proposes additional 3 percent housing tax which was a burden to the workers.
At the same time, they lamented that Kenyans among them nurses and healthcare workers were overburdened with taxes.
"We have given parliament enough time, the ministry of health should facilitate CBA signing which was started in 2017 to be concluded in 60 days," health workers' unions revealed in a joint statement.
Panyako further urged government to employ more health workers in the country.
