Nigerian health workers under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Health Professionals Assembly have declared a seven-day warning strike to protest the government's alleged failure to address the welfare issues of its members.
The warning strike begins on Friday (today) and will last until Friday, November 1 next week.
Both bodies have also threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if the government, once again, refuses to address their demands at the end of the seven-day warning strike.
On October 10, the unions jointly issued the Nigerian government a 15-day ultimatum to grant their requests or risk having their jobs vacated.
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As part of their demands, the unions demanded immediate payment of outstanding salaries to staff of regulatory agencies for the last nine months.
They described the failure to pay statutory healthcare workers as a clear case of unfair labor practice.
They also described the situation as a violation of the relevant provisions of the “current Labor Laws and International Labor Standards (ILO – Convention on the Protection of Wages, 95 of 1949) which prescribed the payment of salaries/wages when they were due to workers. workers.”
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However, their requests were not addressed within the requested 15-day ultimatum.
Speaking on this, JOHESU National President Kabiru Minjibir, the government's inaction after multiple correspondences in recent months and failure to recognize the demands within the 15-day ultimatum issued at the beginning of the year left the workers with no choice option than to embark on a strike.
Minjibir, in a statement shared with Newslodgeon Friday, said the strike would have been avoided if the Nigerian government had taken the measures outlined “in the Trade Disputes Act Cap. T8 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004”
According to him, this would have resolved the dispute during the 15-day strike notice period.
“However, if at the end of the seven (7) days of warning strike, the Federal Government fails to meet our demands, JOHESU has no choice but to embark on an indefinite strike,” he said.
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JOHESU open to dialogue
Mr Minjibir also stated that JOHESU is in open dialogue with the authorities to resolve issues relating to the welfare and working conditions of members raised by the union.
He said: “We will therefore keep all our communication channels open during this seven-day warning strike period.
“The general public must bear with us all the inconveniences that the withdrawal of services of health workers under the umbrella of JOHESU may cause during this period.
“JOHESU has always shown maturity, selflessness and patriotism even in the face of extreme provocations and the government's long delay in meeting our demands and we believe that our maturity and patriotism have been taken for granted.”
In addition to the payment of outstanding salaries, the unions, among other things, also demanded the immediate restoration of funding for the Environmental Health Regulatory Council and the reconstitution of the governing boards and councils of federal health institutions.
JOHESU and the Assembly of Health Professionals also requested that the process of upward review of the retirement age of health workers be accelerated through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The umbrella bodies called on the Nigerian government to be aware of the impact of brain drain syndrome on health institutions across the country and review the retirement age from 60 to 65 years for health workers and 70 years for consultants. .
They demanded the “immediate suspension of the establishment and planned activities of the National Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (NHFRA) promoted by the Federal Ministry of Health and Welfare.”