Trade Unions To Join Doctors Strike

Public sector unions have declared their intention to hold demonstrations every Tuesday in solidarity with the doctors and to protest against what they see as the government's direct aggression against the labour sector.

This adds to concerns about labour rights and health policy. Unions have complained that the government has failed to honour mutually signed collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), leading to industrial action by doctors and loss of life.

The unions include the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS), Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU), Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers Union (KUPPET); Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists Dentists Union (KMPDU); Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), Dock Workers Union (DWU) and Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN).

Addressing journalists at the UASU offices, union officials announced that they would join the striking doctors, adding that the strike had dragged on because of the lack of support from public and civil service unions.

'CBAs are a constitutional right of workers. They are also regulated by law and guided by ILO conventions that Kenya has ratified. Therefore, parties to such an agreement must respect it or it will lead to industrial anarchy. Therefore, the Doctors' CBA (2017-2021), which is the subject of the ongoing strike, must first be respected for the parties to engage in further negotiations,' said Dr Charles Mukhwaya, TUC-Ke General Secretary KUSU Secretary General.

He also criticised Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria's remarks about changing the terms of employment of public service workers from permanent to contractual, threatening trade union leaders and high taxation.

'Trade unions are formed by workers to protect their rights and interests in the workplace. The government must stop threatening union leaders, withholding union dues and generally making the working environment toxic. All attempts to convert permanent and pensionable conditions into contracts and to bastardize mutually agreed CBAs will be resisted at all costs,' said Dr Mukhwaya.

'We demand that the government immediately stop issuing unilateral threats to public servants and engage the union leadership in constructive social dialogue based on a tripartite framework; that the government respect the sanctity of mutually signed CBAs, starting with the doctors' 2017/2021 ???, and that the government respect the employment contracts entered into by public servants on permanent and pensionable terms. All public sector unions will join demonstrations every Tuesday until the government complies,' he announced.

Welcoming the resolution, KMPDU General Secretary Dr Davji Atellah said the government had frustrated doctors without taking care of patients, resulting in patient deaths.

'The frustration that the government has put on doctors is not only on doctors. All these other unions also have CBAs. The government's action to arbitrarily and openly violate the CBA by reducing the wages of junior doctors by 90 per cent is a clear indication that the other CBAs will not be respected. As a union, the strike will continue until the government wakes up and realises that this is a law that must be respected,' said Dr Atellah.

'The public sector unions have decided today that every Tuesday demonstration will involve all the public sector unions. Tomorrow we will be demonstrating from the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the Ministry of Health (MOH), Parliament and the Council of Governors (COG). We will have a mammoth of public service unions and welcome the public to join us.

We are not proud of it. We welcome today's decision to take joint action to protect the KMPDU CBA.T his will ensure that all public service CBAs are respected,' he added.