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Health sector to resume strike if no President meeting before March

18 Feb 2022

  • Prez instructs authorities to look into nurses’ demands at meeting with nurses faction led by Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda
  • Strikers oppose PSUNU-Prez meeting
BY Buddhika Samaraweera After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed the relevant authorities to take steps to grant the nursing officers’ demands so as not to affect the entire public service yesterday (17), the health sector non-medical trade unions that were recently engaged in a strike action have warned that they would resume their strike action if a similar discussion with the President was not granted before 1 March. A meeting between the President and the Public Service United Nurses’ Union (PSUNU) led by Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera was held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (17). During the meeting, Rajapaksa said that it was important for all to understand that not all demands could be considered in the midst of the current financial crisis, and therefore instructed officials to pay attention to the nursing officers’ demands in consultation with the Finance Ministry and other agencies in a manner that would not affect the entire public service. The issuance of circulars regarding the establishment of a nursing university, the backdated promotion of grade two nursing officers to grade one, the revision of the 36 hours per week working hours to 30 hours per week, the proposed allowance of Rs. 10,000 for nurses in proportion to the disturbance, availability and transport allowance of Rs. 35,000 for medical professionals, and the provision of an additional service allowance at the rate of one out of 100 of the basic salary, were discussed during the meeting between the President and the PSUNU. However, the Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA) and the College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) that were among the 18 non-medical trade unions that launched a continuous strike action from 6 February to 16 February, objected to the said meeting. They stressed that Rajapaksa should have discussed the matter not with the PSUNU, but the trade unions that went on strike action.  Speaking to The Morning yesterday, GNOA President Saman Rathnapriya said that they do not agree with the matters discussed during the meeting between Rajapaksa and the PSUNU. He added that most of the matters discussed there were not the reasons for the recent strike.  “Most of the issues discussed during that discussion are not the ones we have asked immediate solutions for. It is better if the authorities act on implementing them, but given the fact that we have come across many such promises, we know that it is something that will never happen. Also, there are a number of differences between Ananda Thera’s demands and those of the nurses who went on strike. Therefore, we expect a discussion with the President before 1 March. Otherwise, we will definitely have to go on strike again,” he warned.  Meanwhile, speaking to The Morning yesterday (17), CMLS President Ravi Kumudesh claimed that Rajapaksa had set a very wrong example by negotiating with the trade unions who were trying to sabotage the strike action instead of the unions that had been on strike over certain demands.  “Rajapaksa has set a very wrong example. We have suspended the strike for two weeks and set the stage for resolving these issues through negotiations. While we have done so, the President is holding discussions with those who tried to sabotage the strike and said that they had no issues. We thought that Rajapaksa did not have a discussion with us because he did not have the time, but he has now proved that he has the time, but that he didn’t want to discuss with us,” he claimed. Speaking further, Kumudesh said that if President Rajapaksa had wanted to prevent another strike from being launched, he could have summoned the other non-medical health sector trade unions’ representatives as well. Instead, he said, it is doubtful whether Rajapaksa had only summoned the PSUNU in a bid to set the stage for a strike.  “If there was a need to prevent another strike, the President should have summoned us to the discussion. What we have to ask is, is he the President only to the PSUNU? Is our union’s President someone else? Therefore, we have to say repeatedly that if we are not given a discussion with Rajapaksa within the coming few days, the launch of another strike will not be preventable,” he added. The non-medical health sector trade unions that were engaged in a strike action since 6 February, demanding that the Government provide solutions for their salary and promotion-related issues, decided to suspend the strike for a period of 14 days starting from 16 February. Speaking to The Morning on 15 February, Kumudesh said that the trade unions have decided to suspend the strike for 14 days. During that period, he said that Rajapaksa’s intervention with regard to the health workers’ issues would be vital in order for a concrete decision to be made regarding the strike. A total of 18 non-medical health sector trade unions launched a strike from 6 February to 16 February at hospitals islandwide, demanding that the Government provide speedy solutions to their issues including salary and promotion-related problems. In addition, they had also organised protests in several districts in recent days.  


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