Minister of Labour and Social Security Fackson Shamenda yesterday met with leaders of the four health sector unions and a few nurses at parliament building concerning the strike action by nurses and midwives at the University Teaching Hospital and other health institutions in the country.
The meeting was also attended by Labour Deputy Minister Ronald Chitotela and some officials from the ministry.
The four unions represented at the meeting were the Zambia National Union of Health and Allied Workers (ZNUHAW), Zambia Union of Nurses Organisation (ZUNO), Health Workers Union of Zambia (HWUZ) and the Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ).
According to a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the union leadership gave a background to the current strike by the nurses saying their members wanted the minister to address them regarding their grievances.
But the Minister highlighted the ,ministry’s role as an arbiter in industrial relations matters and reminded the union leaders that what their members were participating in was an illegal strike.
Mr. Shamenda reiterated his earlier statement that health workers were essential workers who should not go on strike as they endangered the lives of patients.
He reminded the unions that the sanction for participating in an illegal strike was summary dismissal as per the disciplinary code and procedures for handling offences in the public service.
Mr. Shamenda said he could not go to UTH to address the nurses because they had representation from the union, as such he expected the union leadership to engage their members.
He also stressed the need for nurses to follow the laid down procedures in airing their grievances and urged them to return to work so as to normalize the situation in the health sector.
Nurses and midwives at the University Teaching Hospital have since been joined by their counterparts in other hospitals on a strike action demanding a 21 percent salary increment.
ZANIS
Dismiss them we see what will happen in hospitals, these of are crazy people.
Ulebepafye……..just pay them. This was started by you when you were a Union leader.
Most of those nurses in Zambia would work in Old people’s homes, in the UK
The NHS in the Uk is the best in the world
I am told in zambian when you ‘not feeling well’ You are put on a ‘Chloroquine course’
This practise is a subtle way of acting like , Howard Shipman ( Google him for all you ignoramus people) and therefore I would careless less if these people are dismissed or not
I have Msc, MBA CIMA ACCA Bsc in Applied Accounting and now doing PhD and I am only 27
Thanks
Ooops ‘Dr Harold Shipman’
It is true they can all be dismissed. But how will that help the nation? It is not like they can be easily replaced like our brothers the call boys.
We shall wait for comments from the REAL MUSHOTA. I wonder why people like being impostors. Create your own ID like Mushota, Saulosi, mmk and Ndobo.
Shamenda try to meet the nurses halfway and tell them the other part will be included in next years salary review. They understand that PF has overspent and runout of money to boost wages any more except for politicians.
Unfortunately this will be difficult to sell because your MOF decided to freeze wages starting next year.
You are one who illegally denied what belong to workers, but opted to feedlot yourselves.
Nurses should have a union to deal with negotiations. Its such a waste of energy to be on strike!
Uyu mudala ou suba utubunga ku mwefu ali sokoneka sana ati?
Ale mona kwati ubunga bwesu, in famous GBM parlance, Bunga bwa ba nyina??
Yes he can fire them, BUT DOES HE HAVE THE GUTS????????
WE are all watching!! INCLUDING KCM and KUMAR!!!
Give them what you promised. If however, there were no promises about increments, let them go back to work without delay as there is no basis for striking.
So BOMA can dismiss its workers on strike but private sector cannot? This is what u get when u are led by a FULL for a President!
GOVERNMENT: What is it that you really want you striking nurses ?
NURSE: I want K10,000 salary plus K4,000 housing allowance
10:1 patient to nurse ratio and extra pay for attending to more than 10 patients a day
Medical and other benefits.
Considering the fact that I am an essential worker, I’d be looking at K250,000-K300,000 per annum
GOVERNMENT: Today is your lucky day! You will be getting…..
K350,000 per annum salary, 2014 Range Rover Sport as official car, Mercedes Benz S65 AMG as status car Overseas medical treatment ,A fully furnished house and 2 houses to be built for you in any town of your choice and in your village ,Health insurance for your husband and children 2 houses to be built for you in any town of your choice and in your village.Being an essential worker,…
……worker, you and your family will be entitled to annual overseas vacation with a fully-paid first class K100.000 wardrobe allowance per annum, cook, steward and 2 drivers. Country club membership, and you’re entitled to keep all that the government gives you if you put in just 3 years of service…
NURSE: (in bewildered excitement) HAAA!!!! Sir, you must be joking !!!
GOVERNMENT: Of course ! Were you not the one that started the joke ?
Ba Shamenda you thought this day will never come!
Their demands are unrealistic are they the only civilservants
Iwe Shamenda..you got your increament in parliament….what are you talking about? Nurses have families too. Continue with strike as you have the blessings of the people and more importantly God is on your side.
You Shamenda of all people should know better the grievances being put before you by these poor nurses….you used to play this game. We also know your statement is just rhetoric……..yes i said it….rhetoric! Let’s see you fire them and see how that move will sit with the citizenry. Could you also please shave and stop scaring kids with that sparse beard and take off the styopet hat while you are at it!
what are nurses demanding, they are just jealous because of the increment given to other cival sevarnts. they were given a big package last year wen others got penuts and they wre geting money not based on qualifications, they got more than other certificate and diploma holders. nurses we beg u go back to work u’v goten what u deserve.
PF made this problem for itself…. and for Zambia!
Remember how Kambwili was going to give all the health workers a 100% pay increase. Oops…. on second thought, it’s only the President and other big-wigs with endless allowances and perks who “deserve” that much of a pay hike.
Oh well…. donchi, what?
Nursers meanwhile are meant to be motivated simply by doing an important job…. without medicines or other resources needed for job satisfaction…… and are cast as traitors to the nation if they go abroad after years of education to earn a livable salary (….now how’s that for life on the sharp edge of “patriotism”?).
Better, and definitely easier, is just to fire ’em all and blame the MMD. Right, ba Shamenda?
I still remember Shamenda told them last time that it was just a confusion in the payroll system, which would be rectified and that the nurses would receive corrected salaries at October month end. The Nurses went back to work trusting Shamenda’s words. October came, same salaries! they ask Shamenda to go and meet them the same way he met them last time, he says he can’t meet nurses because they have Union Leaders who should meet him. Do these ministers really care about what they say?
Is Shamenda for real? Whenever this guy speaks, he always come out as someone who doesn’t think. As Solomon Jere would say, these are the people that give the PF a bad name. Really, firing all nurses, does that make sense to you? Why give useless threats? A Minister should not talk like that. Since these nurses started their strike, Zambia is hurting. We do not need a Minister who has no empathy. What Zambia wants to see is this problem sorted out, quietly and away from the camera. Shamenda should not behave as if he wants to impress his grand child that he can talk. What wasted air space!
most upnd puppies amaze me with their thinking. Twists and turns all the time.
We are going to lay off all of them, and replace them with UBUTALA BWABUMI
As far as l know those health workers even if the government gave them 1000% increament plus oder allowances dey will stil behave the same way.They re simply playing a role of Lucifa’s urgents.Wen patients re dying it is their ‘joy’ .God help us!
Dont take advantange of shortage of health workers,,,,, take stock of how many people have died for your strike action!
When you finish calculating number of people which have died as a direct result of nurses strike, please add the total to the number of dead caused by the Government incompetence. Let us know result.
very very unfortunate!
Can the government come with a measure that will stop this cluelty of health workers. As an employer abolish nurse unions.Anyone not pleased with that let them go and look 4 jobs some where else.With their poor f/management they’ll never b content.
PF , just know that what ever you shall give the nurses, all civil servants will demand that coz no civil servant has been rewarded a salary increment of 21% besides the cleaners and Office assistants. I received a less than 10% salary increment but adding other allowances I got a 50% increment in total. This is the same with nurses, so trade well on this issue coz no civil servant will sit down arms folded while the nurses are given a 21% salary increase. All of us (civil servants) will demand the same salary increment. Its a warning to you PF. We are watching what increment you give the nurses.
Peace and prosperity to mother Zambia.
DE STRIKE ACTION BY THESE HEALTH WORKERS Z DEMONIC ND I COME AGAINST IT IN JESUS’ NAME! YO ALTITUTE IS DEMONIC BUT JEHOVAH IS WATCHING YO GREEDY ACTIONS.THE EVIL SPIRIT IN U WON’T ALLOW U 2 B CONTENT SO US TO B USED IN SENDING PIPO 2 THEIR GRAVES
Yayaya! Is that all you can say in aid of chronic incompetence in your system of governance and remuneration practice? We are doomed indeed – I hope you are not anywhere where serious decisions and fire are made…
Nurses have gone too far………too far indeed.
They have gone to far indeed! Can the government do something to put this nosense to an end once and for all.What kind of education do they have that can’t even allow them to follow right channels?Behaving like thugs.Jesus intervane !Amen !
They PF nurses, do you follow the right channel of killing people?or opening of your own offices? demanding for 10 copies of constitution? appointing of cj? amending RB cases? etc.
These nurses and wives of PF cadres
You narrow~minded & iliterate dudes, U ar busy insulting nurses & abusing the name of God & Jesus. Do u thing God is looking at insult & smile at u?
Think twice & be reasonable even if it is once in yo lifetime.
Nurses are human beings like any other person.they work 24/7 which is rare in other minisries. Watch out y let God punish u 4 things u can avoid
Rubbish rants….do you think as a nurse you are more educated than others? all civil servants have received the same salary increments…less than 10% except for the cleaners, drivers and Office Assistants who received more than 100%. Other civil servants have understood what GRZ has said that they will harmonize the salaries next year, why are the nurses behaving as if they are more educated than others while they just have certificates??? Any way your insipid behaviour has started annoying us…you are killing innocent people you guys. shaaaa.
What do you expect when cretins are running the government – rubbish!!
Sick Mushota need deliverance, spirit of inadequency and attention! Let PF dismiss them at their own peril!
Minister of labour is only an arbiter he says! He has no money why can’t they meet Minister of Health?
I think Shamenda and his confused boss should apologize to Shoprite. When Shoprite threatened to sack striking workers, these jokers threatened to revoke Shoprite’s trading licence. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, they have conveniently forgotten their principles. What goes around, comes around!
DO WASTE YOUR TIME BLOGGERS REPLYING TO MUSHOTA, THERE IS NOTHING GENUINE ABOUT HER EXISTENCE. SOMEONE WHO HAS AMASSED SUCH QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE A PERSON OF ABOVE AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE AND THE LAST THING YOU EXPECT FROM THEM IS TO FORGET THEIR AGE UNLESS PSYHIATRIC ISSUES EXIST. OUR SO CALLED MUSHOTA HAS BEEN 27 YEARS OLD SINCE 2007 WHEN SHE STARTED BLOGGING, SO DONT BE WORKED BY ‘HER’ COMMENTS, RESERVE YOUR ENERGY.
Nurses have just gone too far! What education are they boasting about everyday? twanaka nabo mwe! Innocent people are dying yet they are busy bragging about their certificates obtained from nursing homes or nursing schools
Thought PF said dismal was illegal when Shoprite dismissed due to industrial action!
They did not mean it, it was just another dochi kubeba
Ba nurse what you are demanding is too much.You were trained to serve life and remember you may be sick also who Gona attend to you .The salary you have is fine as long as you adjust and change your lifestyle.Men of God its your time to go and pray for the sick and UTH will be empty and their will be no patients for nurses to attend to and the strike action will be meaningless .Military men serve the nation we know you can do it and shame the devil
Ba Alex I think you need to look his issue at other angle
I have seen some of the comments posted, saying nurses don’t do there job collect. ” when you go to the hospital they only give you chroloquine.” Don’t blame the nurses, shame day is the problem. They sit all the money and equipments they receive from donation from the donor countries. If shamenda and sata can raise their salaries three times in a year why is it had to raise pay for nurses. They deserve a raise. First these politicians have taken medicine and medical equipments that suppose to help the nurse to their job efficiently, to other border countries to benefit themselves. Pay them you scammers. Where do you think Sata started his gangster empire. From the ministry of health. He stole a lot of money the ministry and shamenda is doing the same. So to say, since when it was…
Since when was it illegal for nurses to go on strike. They are playing by everyday laws ( change to bully the honesty citizens)that benefit there pockets. How much does shamenda gets, and how much work does he do compared to the nurses. All he does is trying where he can get free money. Let him live on a nurse’s salary see how far he can go. This is the problem in our country. We don’t what to solve a problems instead we run away or bully honesty citizens so that the politics can get their way. Alex think about your post. I believe you are not in Zambia. You can’t expect a nurse to do a better job if she is not happy herself.
Mushota you always bring in different dimension to discussions.
keep it up baby.
MWEBANTU, MUSHOTA IS A MAN POSING AS A WOMAN. HE IS A HOMOSEXUAL. THAS WHAT TOOK HIM WHERE HE IS. DONT MIND HIM OR ANSWER HIS STUPID COMMENTS.
Let me be frank. I have never possessed s copy of any past constitution of Zambia and have never even read them. I am however knowlegeable about some provisions through reading or hearing about them from some NGOs etc.
However I have read the draft constitution that was submitted for public comments in the newspapers. As for the printing of 10 copies I see no need for all the hullabaloo from some sections of society as the document is still a draft and printing 1000 copies or 10 copies the document is still a draft! If citizens are not happy with the final draft there is a process to reject it! I find the debate on the 10 copies really Unintelligent!
Ba Shamenda, you should have shaved before meeting the reps for nurses unions, fiko ifyo!!
TYPICAL SHAMENDE
Useless indeed. You’re a disgrace to the Labour Union you tirelessly worked for all the fruitful years you wasted.
You All want to talk stupidly like your Bosses.
It seems you JUDASES have nothing new to offer,neither is your PANGA Manifesto.
I cry for Mother Zambia, bcoz the general population is easily cheated by Politics of the day such as the 90 DAYS, more Money in Pockets, Electric Trains scandal etc etc.
And easily we forget ABOUT THESE THINGS, crossing our fingers that come tomorrow ( Fikabafye OK).
Can you imagine if PF was in opposition, and the ruling party kills a citizen because one folk is an unwanted element. HELL could have broken loose,but nay no one cares any more.
ANd why cant all go on strike about all the promises PANGA FOLLOWERS made??
They were educated people who you should have voted for instead you went and voted for idiots like mushota slut dull and living in lala land now thats what you get for voting for thugs
How do you put papa smurf as a minister of labour a cartoon charactor guys come on sichinga another clown,the list is endless
@ Mushota
Your inferiority complex puzzles me a lot!!!! You better stop using your tiny a.s.s for thinking. i will soon be coming to clean that filthy tiny a.s.s
I think you are giving too much brojobs. Give your FILTHY mouth a break, you sewer rat!!!!
What legality is Shamenda talking about, when he is on the side which should abide by the agreement entered in by the two parties to give them 21% salary increment. The problem is that now and only now has PF realized the difficult of more money in the pockets without having a meaningful economic growth, later on even a plan of how to grow the economy. Inflation is just waiting for your decision on this matter.
RB had this same problem with nurses at UTH and Panga family politicized the whole issue and called MMD all sorts of names. Now that Panga Family is in power, they have run out of ideas on how to run the nation.
Construction of new health infrastructure, including district hospitals, provincial hospitals, nursing schools, health centers must continue to the finish. That is the peoples’s power based on PF election victory. MDGs are not a joking matter. Whether health workers like it not, health workers are essential workers. All essential workers can not strike at will in order to protect human life. Strike action must be well organized with permission from Labor Officer, proof of consultation with relevant authorities and also commitment to the negotiation process.
Chishamenda iwee what are you talking about! i will go to Mununga and biwitch you if only you temper firing my Antie, just come back to your constituency and patch the pot holes which are all over Ndola Central town! twalemona kwati muli bamano sana kanshi mulichiwelewelefye how i wish we voted for young Mulenga believe me come 2016 you will not have any vote from here! you should even shave ifinfwi ifyo!
27 YEARS OLD MUSHOTA,A WOMAN WHO DOES NOT GROW.
We are all workers……….As teachers we are also watching,should the increment go beyond our salaries we will also strike.Salary harmonization is good for all of us. Diploma holders should have the same salary, what should be different are the responsible allowances….
People cannot be holding the government hostage, all nurses must be given an ultimatum to return to work or face the sack.
Let their salaries be deducted,for the days they been absent.
The strike has spread like bush fire latest participants being Kasama nurses.
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