THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Notwithstanding the invitation extended by the government for talks, the United Nurses Association has given a call to nurses in private and cooperative hospitals to take mass leave from March 6 in support of their demand for implementing minimum wages. The association leaders told media after their state committee meeting in Thrissur that 62,500 nurses working in private and cooperative hospitals in the state would go on mass casual leave. The association decide to challenge the ban imposed on the nurses strike and urged the government to appeal against the court directive to put curbs on agitations.
The UNA said that it had given strike notice to managements 15 days ago and the government had responded only on Friday by inviting them for talks on Saturday. This clearly indicated their anti-employee attitude which can also be dubbed as pro-private management stand. The association said despite chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s assurance given on July 20 that there would be no vendetta action against the nurses, several private and cooperative hospitals had thrown out nurses from their restrictions.
The UNA said that those managements which agree to grant minimum wages of Rs 20,000 would be exempted from the strike. It said seven months had passed since the government finalised the wages for nursing staff but till date only a preliminary notification has been issued. The strike is in protest against the delay in implementing the revised salary finalised by the Minimum Wages Committee. As per the decision, nurses working in private hospitals were entitled to a hike ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 17,000 across all categories. However, the association alleged that managements were yet to pay the revised wages. The revised wages were being denied on flimsy grounds. Even attempts made by a section of managements to stall the implementation of higher wages couldn’t succeed.
