THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The United Nurses Association (UNA) has called off its mass leave protest from Tuesday following Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's announcement that the revised minimum wages for nurses working in private hospitals will be implemented in the current month itself. The decision to implement Supreme Court directed minimum wages of Rs 20,000 was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the chief minister. It decided to issue the final notification regarding the revised wages before March 31.
The decision was conveyed to the UNA which decided to put off its proposed mass leave protest schedule from Tuesday. Over 62,000 nurses working in 450-odd private hospitals had decided to go on mass leave from Tuesday. The Chief Minister directed the Minimum Wags Committee to start the process of implementing minimum wages .The committee will met on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Kerala Private Hospitals Association has expressed its inability to implement the wages announced by the Chief Minister. The Association said it would challenge the government decision in court.
It may be recalled that the private hospital managements had sought High Court ban on the proposed strike of nurses. It had also called for invoking ESMA and detaining the leaders of United Nurses Association. The UNA had reiterated that those managements which agreed to grant minimum wages of Rs 20,000 would be exempted from the strike. Seven months had passed since the government finalised the wages for nursing staff and the delay had created crisis in the nursing sector. The revised salary finalised by Minimum Wages Committee would have given a hike ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 17,000 across all categories.
