Stop Misleading Sacked Nurses ‘Govt Pleaded for Them too Much’

THE labour movement and opposition political parties should allow the government to deal with the nurses who have been sacked for staging an illegal strike within the country’s laws.
There is no need to force the Ministry of Health to act outside the law to appease the nurses and their sympathisers.
The government had given the nurses enough time in which to call off their strike and report for work, but they defied all the directives and pleas.
Records are there to show that there were serious efforts to resolve the issues over which they were striking.
Tripartite meetings were held to assure the affected workers that their grievances were receiving active attention from the relevant Government wings, including the Ministry of Finance.
But the nurses remained adamant and continued with their strike, ignoring the hardships to which they were subjecting innocent patients.
The government had to mobilise medical and other health workers from other Government institutions, including the defence forces and nursing schools, to mitigate the impact of the strike.
All the pleas to the nurses to consider the plight of patients fell on deaf ears.
And some of the statements coming from some opposition political parties did little to help the striking workers. They in fact incited them to continue with their strike.
The strike dragged on for 10 days, and the government had to make a decision.
The fact that Government waited that long is an indication that it was not keen on disciplining the nurses but wanted the two parties to reach some agreement.
By the 10th day of the strike, the nurses knew that they had stretched their luck a trifle too far, and it was just a matter of time; the government was going to act.
The announcement of their dismissal could not therefore have come as a shock to them.
Even their own union had exhausted its efforts in its attempt to persuade them to return to work in the face of the Government’s willingness to resolve their problems.
Of course it is not pleasant for anyone to lose their job, but it is also important to realise that employers also have rights and powers which they can evoke should there be a need.
There is no need for the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to incite the nurses not to re-apply for their jobs as demanded by the government.
What ZCTU should bear in mind is that the nurses are in a very vulnerable position because they broke the law and defied their union leaders who are expected to defend them.
Surely the congress did not expect the government to allow the strike to go on forever.
It had to act to stamp its authority and re-assure the public that the health sector is functioning.
We believe that the dismissal of the nurses is an industrial relations issue between the employees, the nurses, and their employer, the government through the Ministry of Health.
As Minister of Labour and Social Security Fackson Shamenda has stated ZCTU is just making the circumstances more complicated for the now unemployed nurses by inciting them not to re-apply for their positions.
We believe that the government knows what it is doing, and has an obligation to ensure that the health sector continues providing quality care services to citizens.
Those nurses who have been dismissed should re-apply for their jobs because it is their source of livelihood. It is the wise thing to do. Those who are inciting them have jobs with fat salaries and allowances.