Kenyan nurses  reject County Govt’s offer, vow to continue with strike

Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) has rejected Governor’s offer to  pay for days they have not been at work, withdrawal of any disciplinary action and have vowed to continue with their strike.

KNUN secretary general Mr Maurice Opetu said until the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was implemented, they were not ready to go back to work.

The County Government’s negotiating team had urged the KNUN to suspend the ongoing strike for 60 days in order to give room for further negotiations.

The negotiating team, led by its chairman Mr. Joseph Tanui on Wednesday initiated a meeting with the top leadership of KNUN led by their Secretary General Mr. Maurice Opetu for the resumption of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations.

During the meeting, the county Governments offered to withdraw any disciplinary action that may have been taken against the nurses and agreed that no party shall be victimized.

The team further said that the County Governments had agreed to pay withheld salaries and other allowances for the nurses for the period they have been on strike adding that jointly with the union, they will initiate the appeal on job evaluation and grading of nurses to the SRC.

This was a follow up to the meeting that was held at the Council of Governors offices two weeks ago.

The nurses’ strike has been ongoing since June where the nurses expressed their disappointments for non-implementation of their CBA that was agreed by both the National and County Governments and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

The strike has seen suspension of inpatient services in most public hospitals and patients have been forced to seek services from private facilities and those that cannot afford paying for the services are left with no choice but to go home unattended.

The Kenya National Union of Nurses called the strike on June 5 and efforts by the Council of Governors and the government to resolve the impasse have hit a dead end.