NATIONWIDE NURSES STRIKE LOOMS

SWADNU members singing and dancing to a political song during their General Council meeting at Caritas yesterday. (Pic: Sibusiso Zwane)

MANZINI – A study by two New York researchers found that nurses’ strikes increased patient mortality by 18.3 per cent and Eswatini is about to experience that.

Jonathan Gruber and Samuel Kleiner conducted the study. They also found that nurses’ strikes increased readmission by 5.7 per cent for patients admitted during the strike.

This is about to be relevant to the country because nurses have resolved to down tools next Wednesday and march to deliver petitions to three government departments; Ministry of Public Service, Ministry of Health and Prime Minister’s Office. 

After delivering the petitions, government will have approximately a week to address the nurses concerns or the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) will lead them in a seven-day nationwide mass strike action.

However, in the matter in which they will engage in the mass industrial action, they said the first day of the week-long demonstration would be enough to force government to address their concerns.

The resolution was taken by nurses during their general council meeting which was held at Caritas conference room yesterday. The nurses’ concerns include drugs and staff shortage in the country’s medical facilities.
However, the core issue which forced them to call the meeting was that government had blocked all channels for them to address the issue of cost of living adjustment (COLA).
According to the nurses, government blocked them from addressing the issue of 2016/17 COLA, as it was appealing the Industrial Court ruling of June 2018, which referred the matter to arbitration.
They said since the law did not allow them to strike because they provide an essential service to the nation, the only available channel for them to address the issue of COLA was taking the matter to arbitration.
The nurses’ argument was that if they compile all the issues that concerned them together, they could be allowed to declare a nationwide strike action other than striking for the zero per cent salary increase, which government offered last week.
“A hungry man is an angry man and an angry man is a dangerous one. We are angry and we want to show government that we are irritated,” said one of the nurses, who supported the resolution to petition government and strike for seven days.  He said the only way they could do that was to ignore the processes and procedures as the government they were dealing with was doing things willy-nilly.
It is worth noting that when the chairman of the meeting, Bheki Mamba, who is the president of the nurses’ union, gave the floor a chance to suggest a way forward regarding their concerns, most nurses wanted the petition to be delivered on Monday.
Their argument was that since they were angry, they should march on Monday so that government could feel the pinch as usually on this day, there were long queues in health facilities.
However, the union considered that it had to serve government with a notice of 48 hours prior to the delivery of the petition and also request to use the streets from the Municipal Council of Mbabane. It was then that the nurses agreed that Wednesday was an ideal day for the delivery of the petition, taking into consideration that they have to mobilise other members.

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