This archive report was first published on 7 May 2020.
On November 12, 2016, Kenya National Union of Nurses Secretary General Seth Panyako (right) and the Union chairman John Bii held a press briefing in Kisumu, where they announced a 21-day strike if the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was not signed by the government.
The strike, which began on May 18, is still ongoing, with unions rejecting a Sh3.3 billion offer to health workers by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). The unions have termed the offer as discriminatory, with Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) chair Peterson Wachira stating, “It beats any logic at how they have arrived at different figures for different cadres yet none of the union leaders have been involved in negotiations of the allowances.”
According to George Gibore, Secretary General of KUCO, the SRC's rationale for giving allowances should be focused only on medics in the highest risk of contracting coronavirus. The union is now demanding that the SRC harmonize the risk allowances.
Kenya Health Professionals Society (KHPS) chairperson Mohammed Duba added, “SRC has provoked us even more, SRC should repent for their tyranny of mistakes.” Meanwhile, Kenya National Union of Nurses Secretary General Seth Panyako accused the Ministry of Health of becoming a ministry for doctors only, but vowed that the union would not sit back and watch this happen.
On April 1, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission approved the disbursement of Sh3.3 billion to meet medical emergency allowance and benefits for health workers for the next three months.
