KNH nurses protested outside the facility over lack by management to implement a previous return-to-work deal.[File-Standard]
The nationwide nurses’ strike remains unresolved despite a week of meetings between the union, the Council of Governors (CoG) and other government agencies, with the engagements failing to produce the breakthrough that had been expected.
The nurses have instead returned to the streets, with the two sides still divided over whether key issues in their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) have already been agreed upon or remain subject to further negotiations.
The impasse comes a week after the Kenya National Union of Nurses and Midwives (KNUNM) expressed optimism that planned engagements between the CoG and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) could help unlock the dispute and pave the way for nurses to return to work.
It was anticipated that the meetings would address outstanding issues, including implementation of the 2017 return-to-work agreement, the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), career progression and the transition of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) nurses to permanent and pensionable (PNP) terms.
But instead of a return-to-work deal, the engagements have exposed a disagreement over how far negotiations had gone and what should happen next.
KNUNM Deputy Secretary General Maurice Opetu says the union's negotiating team had already reached an agreed position with the CoG team on key components of the CBA and expected the process to move towards signing.
Opetu says he was surprised when the CoG sought to reopen negotiations instead of proceeding with the position reached by the negotiating teams.