The Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU has embarked on one week nationwide warning strike saying that they decided to call their members out on strike because of the Federal Government’s inability to meet their demands.
By Abdulrahman Aliagan Abuja
The Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU has embarked on one week nationwide warning strike saying that they decided to call their members out on strike because of the Federal Government’s inability to meet their demands.
The demands which the unions said it includes the need to fix structural and infrastructural decay, payment of health workers’ hazard and inducement allowance, among others.
In a swift reaction, the Federal Government on Sunday called on the various unions in the health sector operating under by JOHESU to ignore the strike directive.
“Owing to the inconclusive meeting with the Federal Government, the Joint Health Sector Unions had resolved to proceed with their strike, with effect from the midnight of Sunday, September 13, 2020.” JOHESU President said.
JOHESU is the umbrella body of health workers’ unions and associations, including the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions, and Senior Staff Association of Universities’ Teaching Hospitals Research Institutes and Associated Institutions.
JOHESU, in a three-paragraph letter dated September 12, with ref. No. HO/JOHESU/ADM/FMoH/VOL.I/58, entitled: “Re: Notice of 15-day ultimatum/outcome of JOHESU expanded NEC meeting” sent to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, was signed by JOHESU President, Biobelemoye Josiah; Secretary-General, Dr Silas Adamu; President of Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes, Dr Benjamin Akintola; General Secretary, Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, Martin Egbanubi, among others.
The document reads, “You would recall that at the end of the meeting held in your office on Thursday, September 10, 2020, JOHESU demanded that the outcome of the meeting between JOHESU and the Federal Government be reported back to our expanded NEC meeting and give feedback to the Federal government within 48 hours.
“In the light of the above, the meeting of our expanded NEC was held today, Saturday, September 12, 2020. And at the end of the meeting, which was held both physically and virtually, it was unanimously agreed that since nothing concrete was achieved at the said meeting with the Federal Government, that the strike notice is still germane and alive.
“Therefore, the 15-day ultimatum still subsists and with effect from midnight of Sunday, September 13, 2020, our members shall withdraw their services due to Federal Government inability to meet their demands. Kindly accept the assurances of our high esteem.”
According to the JOHESU President, “The government called us for a meeting on Thursday and we didn’t reach a reasonable conclusion; so the meeting was inconclusive and they brought a draft of what they felt we discussed, but we said we were not going to sign any agreement because we were mandated by our NEC to give the ultimatum.
“They said we should suspend the ultimatum, but we said no. The NEC is to give us the power to either extend or suspend the action,” he said.
On the demands of the unions, Biobelomoye said, “We compressed our demands to five major areas — the structural and infrastructural decay, we also talked about the corrections in the errors in the COVID-19 allowance.
“They made a mistake, which is contrary to what we agreed on; which is paragraph 1 (a) – that anybody that was earning N5,000 should be given 50 percent of his consolidated basic salary as hazard allowance, but they said they were going to give 10 percent to some of our members and we said that was not the agreement because the people they said they will give 10 percent are not employees of the health institutions. So, we will not accept that.
“Finally, they said they will not pay Administrative and Accounts officers and we said they can’t exempt any because they were also earning the N5,000 before.
“This COVID-19 will never discriminate and as we speak, there are administrative officers and accountants who are also infected.
“Accountants interact with the patients while receiving money; and administrative officers are also taking records of patients,” Biobelomoye said.
Continuing, Biobelomoye said the Federal Government withheld the salary of its members “for some time and now they say it’s ‘no work, no pay,’ but we have asked them if it is meant for only JOHESU members.
“The ‘no work, no pay’ must not be selective for JOHESU members alone. We are also discussing salary adjustment,” he added.
The health workers had, on August 30, issued a 15-day strike notice to the Federal Government to press home their demands.
Going Ahead With the Strike Action Is Illegal – FG
The Federal Government has said that JOHESU going ahead with the industrial action would be amounted to illegal as it urged the members to ignore the directive.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment in a statement said it had “apprehended the dispute” with the conciliation initiated last Thursday, which is still ongoing.
A statement on Sunday by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Mr Charles Akpan, said going ahead with the action would be illegal.
https://frontend.1worldonline.com/widget/smart3-9ce7b7ea.html#!/widget/9b0ba25c-5faa-433c-af72-a94897eb2780&type=widget&code=9b0ba25c-5faa-433c-af72-a94897eb2780&mode=smart3&token=9b0ba25c-5faa-433c-af72-a94897eb2780-1&location=https%3A%2F%2Fpunchng.com%2Ffg-fumes-as-health-workers-begin-strike-today%2F The statement was titled, ‘FG declares JOHESU strike is unnecessary, ill-timed and illegal.’
It said, “Parties in disputes are expected not to arm-twist, intimidate or foist helplessness on the other party while negotiations are ongoing as per sections 8 and 18 the of Trade Dispute Act 2004 barring any strike when the matters are before a conciliator and undergoing conciliation.”
Besides, the government said all health workers on essential services such as pharmacists, nurses/midwives, radiographers as members of JOHESU are statutorily barred from strikes during emergencies, by both the ILO Statutes and the Trade Dispute Act 2004.
“This call for withdrawal of services is clearly unnecessary as the Federal Government has demonstrated capacity in her amelioration of age-long challenges in the health sector and has overly shown commitment to the welfare of health workers by providing enough Personal Protective Equipment and boosting their morale while tackling the strange pandemic,” the statement noted.
The FG further added that it had addressed most of the unions’ demands.
The statement urged the JOHESU leadership to have a rethink “on this illegal strike by putting the welfare of their patients and Nigeria first.