THIRUVANANTHAPRUAM: United Nurses Association (UNA) on Saturday said that it will abide by the HC directive imposing ban on strike but its members will take mass leave from March 6. The talks called by labour department here on Saturday to resolve the issue ended inconclusively. The labour department officials have invited the nurses for another round of discussion on Tuesday. Meanwhile, 62,000 nurses working in over 430 private and cooperative hospitals will take mass leave from Tuesday to demand implementation of minimum wages. The mass leave by nurses is likely to cripple health care services in private sector.
UNA leader Jasminsha said they received the High Court directive through special messenger on Saturday. The directive was issued on the petition filed by AHPI. In the petition, they had demanded ban on the strike, invoking ESMA and detaining the leaders of UNA. The UNA has discussed the court verdict with its legal experts and decided to file a counter petition on Monday. "We accept and honour the HC directive. We are not resorting to strike. But our members will go on mass leave from March 6," Mr Jasminsha said. The association said despite Chief Minister's assurance given on July 20 that there would be no disciplinary action against nurses, many private and cooperative hospitals had terminated the services of nurses besides imposing restrictions on their activities.
The UNA reiterated 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 in protest against the delay in implementing the revised salary finalized by 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.
