‘Will fight till justice is served’: Kerala nurses to strike indefinitely for pay hike

The revised wages were announced in November 2017 and the nurses have been protesting against the delay in implementation for 196 days now.
‘Will fight till justice is served’: Kerala nurses to strike indefinitely for pay hike
‘Will fight till justice is served’: Kerala nurses to strike indefinitely for pay hike
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After Saturday’s talks with the Labour Commission about revised payments for nurses failed to bear fruit, the United Nurses Association (UNA) has decided to go on an indefinite strike from February 6.

The association will launch the new indefinite strike on Tuesday, due to the High Court stay on the earlier strike which prohibited them from taking leave from the hospitals. The nurses aim to launch the strike after displaying on record that they are on leave.

The ongoing strike has continued for the past 196 days at KVM Hospital in Alappuzha and the hospital authorities have not met the demands put forward by the nurses yet. 

Talking to TNM, UNA State working president Shoby Joseph said that the hospital authorities did not even turn up for the meeting with the Labour Commission.

“The protest has been going on for many days now and to date, none of the officials could meet our demands. On Saturday, we had a meeting with the Labour Commission but the KVM authorities did not even turn up”, she said.

The revised wages for nurses were announced in November 2017 and the nurses have been protesting the delay in implementation of the new wages. Further, excess working hours and unsatisfactory bonuses were other reasons that triggered the strike.

 “According to the labour laws nurses are not allowed to work more than 8 hours. However, they are made to work around 16 hours and are even scheduled odd hour shifts. Further, nurses are supposed to be given a bonus of Rs 7500 but are paid only Rs 500. The minimum wages mandated since 2013 is also not paid to the nurses”, added Shoby.

Despite the 2013 revision of wages to INR 11,500 base salary per month, the actual payment received by nurses at KVM hospital ranges from INR 6,000 to 9,000, according to reports

The High Court stay on the strike will be considered on Monday and the UNA authorities have confirmed that if the stay continues, then they would take leave and protest.

“We will fight till justice is served”, said Shoby.

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