Health minister Joseph Kasonde has said the strike action by the nurses is illegal as no industrial dispute has been declared by any of the nurses unions.The health minister said government will press normal charges of absenteeism to nurses and midwives at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) who have continued with the illegal work stoppage.
Dr Kasonde said this in a ministerial statement in Parliament today following a point of order raised last week by MMD Chipata Central Member of Parliament (MP) Mtolo Phiri who wanted Government to explain the cause of the strike.
The Health minister however acknowledged that there were anomalies in some nurses’ wages following the change over to the new salaries and conditions of service which were effected in September.He said Zambia Union of Nurses Organisation (ZUNO) is currently engaging the Public Service Management Division to rectify the anomalies in the salaries which have seen some nurses receiving a 1.1% salary increment instead of 4%.
Dr Kasonde said Government was disappointed with nurses’ action which showed lack of appreciation for the efforts that Government had continued to implement to improve their working conditions.
He said Government had increased salaries for nurses between 2010 and 2013 by about 87%.This brought the lowest paid nurse to K4, 426 from K2,360 as gross.
Wrong approach to solving a problem. This matter requires a level headed approach rather than “Master and Slave” attitude.
Right and wrong. Correct, the nurses have cause for complaint. Correct, that issue must be resolved in favour of the nurses. However, there are channels. Sometimes it helps to try and solve problems without having to be aggressively confrontational. It does not help to do it just for the sake of ukubalanga ati twakifulwa. The right is that the nurses have cause for complaint. The wrong is the approach. That is all I am saying.
Why do i have a feeling that if those cleaners and maids were not given new and improved salaries the nurses wouldn`t have gone on strike in the first place ? I doubt if those anomalies on some individual nurse`s pay slips could have had triggered the action.
its called confusion!! nothing is clear cut and open for all to see in your PF govt,, thats why your kabimba says that your PF govt is very corrupt
Saulosi I take it you do not appreciate the hard work nurses in Zambia do.After working so hard its an insult to pay them so little. Ever heard of the tipping point? Well the nurses reached it. Once you reach that point it doesn’t take much to tip you over.Unfortunately more and more health workers will continue leaving the country and who is to blame? This health minister is talking nonsense maybe he should really give the reigns to the first lady.A leader is supposed to inspire not belittle. Nurses are not kids that you should threaten with silly charges.How compassionate do you think a nurse charged with absenteeism will be to our sick relatives.
The problem with these nurses is that they are forgetting that all the civil servants need an increase.They think they are the only important people. This strike will not end with them only I can see the judiciary,teachers and others following suit.
Maybe i have lived in the western world a day too long to understand the full picture.Much as i sympathize with the nurses i seem to have a problem with why they want to continue staying away from work without the blessings of their unions.I have seen two serious strikes in the country where i live so far and none of those strikes started without blessings from the workers union.It is about time they went back to work and let the union they chose to represent them do the work.Being absent won`t help matters.It is always a good idea to take a systematic approach to any problems and grievances.
Each work is dignified in its on right. the nurses claim to be the ‘hardest workers’. If these cleaners did not clean the hospital we would have more deaths than should be. The work of these cleaners should not be overlooked. This neo clonial attitude some of you develop is bad for human co-existance. I would not be suprised that you pay your domestic workers peanuts becuease you feel you do them a favor by employing them to work for you. This sort of thinking and greed is dangerous. I end my case.
They are even lucky Sata and his government are good people coz Rupiah Banda threatened to dismiss them from work.Go back to work our men and women of this noble profession.
Fool
Oh please give us a break!
Kekeke Yayayaya but today Mr. & Miss Saulosi have confused me…. I can imagine what may happen if both of you found yourselves in one bed at 01am, and worse of all if nurses were on strike!!
Try and you will see the worst strike ever in the history
Tit for Tat…….
Using intimidation is jungle justice, why rush to harshly punish defenceless nurses while PF MP’s who have been absconding from parliament business for no apparent reasons are left untouched.
Isn’t it ridiculous that the minister ‘acknowledges that there are anomalies which need to be rectifies and are being looked into’, the problem is, this ‘looking into the anomalies’ will take donkeys years to complete and may even be shelved. The nurses must no relent but fight on for their dues.
Sorry, meant to say ‘rectified’
The London eye? come down from London eye and have a proper view. It seems you cant see properly from that eye
the govt has finaly atended to the nurses problems.many thanks go to mr.hh for effecting political atention from those narrow minded leaders in the narrow minded party caled pf.i hope bwana hh you hav realised that the govt only answers you when you say something,they feel your heat.
The Malawian president has just dissolved her cabinet for very good reasons and she must be saluted for the decisive and bold action.
In Zambia senior cabinet ministers abandoned their duties to engage in shameful in-fighting fueled by tribalism and we wait to see what action will be taken, if at all. Yet no time is wasted on intimidating and victimising nurses over their genuine demands.
l appeal to all nurses on strike to go back to work,even we police officers have been cheated by this inconsistent regime but lets look at the masses we serve,l hope Government will think twice and learn to tell people the truth,look at the corruption levels in the police! its because of all this,soldiers only cut grass in their barracks but they get more than us, this is ridiculous!
If there is no money in the treasury then cut cleaners pay and ministers and sataz salary by 100%.
.. just send HH to state house as HEAD of state.. He promised to give his monthly salary to the Zambians . this problem can be a song of yesteryear 🙂
I FOR ONE WAS AFFECTED IT WAS NOT EVEN 1.1 PERCENT BUT 0.18 PERCENT THE DIFFERENCE BTN THE OLD AND MY NEW SALARY WAS K 6 REBASED. THIS GOVT SHUD BE SERIOUS
Heheheheheheh!
Kasonde must shut up, salary increament should have been starting in 2014, this would give time for govt and accountants to prepare themselves adquently. Short term notification and failure to impliment = opening a can of worms. The problem can only be solved by quick action of FULFILMENT OF THE PROMISE. no lipservice 🙁
If Sata & his gov official got 100% salary increment why is it so difficult 2 giv nurses even 10% salary increment. Among other civil servants nurses work 24/7 under very difficulty conditions.
Has Sata not been absent from the country when we needed him and we did not know where he was? Let us also charge Sata with absenteeism from the country. For the nurses we knew where they were.
There are ways of solving problems. Being confrontational just for the sake of showing that we can be antagonistic, well, you can hear for yourselves how that sounds.
Wait a minute! You mean you can charge nurses for absenteeism yet you never charge PF cadres for causing deaths or destruction of property? UNBELIEVABLE.
Nonsense leaders, burying their heads in sand.
One thing I don’t understand with zambia is its like every minister is running a ministry which has no connection with his education background and experience . Running those important posts you need something please. The time of mmd keep on changing ministers from one to another . How can one be experienced in all fields . Too bad please . One in IT to be a minister of foreign affairs .
Are they being punished because HH visited the UTH? To punish them so that they blame the opposition? Maybe. You never know with politicians.
Give the nurses a break…. Sata has perpetually been skipping duties; yet obviously got his pay and used tax payers money for that matter for his trips without any explanation!
nurses behavior even towards the sick is pathetic, don’t hold the government to ransom, be realistic and don’t be selfish
They will start mudering inocent patients be careful with issue
They will start murdering innocent patients be careful with this whole issue
firstly why should we be blessed by pathetic unions(zuno), why is it that other civil servants were given 100% and some of us 4%? Mr health minister what rectification are you talking about? To give us the remaining k80 mwilatupapusha, let the nurses at UTH be charged and see how the whole country will drop, it wil be tit for tat. Please teachers and other civil servants leave us alone, if you were happy with the increments we were not. Infact in my time the year i was finishing my grade 12 because of strikes i never finished most of the syllabuses, so what are you telling us leave us alone. infact lets not talk about the past increament if you didnt enjoy and never complained thats up to you.
you seem to not be in the nursing fratenity for the work but for the money. Find another profession. or get a degree since payscales are now matched to qualification.
BA DR KASONDE SALARY INCREMENT IS NOT ACCUMULATIVE IT IS CALCULATED FROM THE CURRENT SALARY. GOING BY YOUR METHOD THEN WE CAN CONCLUDE TO SAY FROM 2010 TO 2013 MINSTERS HAVE HAD INCREMNT OF 1000%
SO NURSES ARE STILL FAR BELOW. PLEASE I ADVISE TO GO BACK AND ASK HOW TO CALCULATE INCREMENTS
I think it is wrong to always quote someone’s pay in terms of gross. Leave gross to the technicals of how government will ravage that earning at the pre-payslip stage. Other than that it makes little sense to make someone feel good about increase in his GROSS earnings when in fact his real state of affairs and fortunes keep dwindling. Therein lies the tale, bwana Minister. That said, if the law specifies penalty, let us apply it so that we can use channels and exhaust them (even quickly) in the future before we down tools or indeed, lives.
Charge the nurses and see the whole country go no a massive strike.
Nurses have a right to strike but , i am sure there is a right channel to follow. Please nurses try and be proffessional. Remember your proffessional code of conduct. We have a duty of care towards our patients. We will be are answerable to God for all the omissions. Just think of the patients who died or people who lost their loved ones during our strike. We need to be empathetic. Just hope there is no relatives out there who will sue for the loss of life of their beloved ones due to negligence or withdrawing care as a result of the strike.
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