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NURSES TO ‘WORK’ AT STRIKE SITE

08/08/2019 01:41:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE

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Civil servants during a strike action. Nurses have said they would be ‘working in the strike action’ set to start on September 16. (File Pic)

MANZINI - Legally, nurses will not be part of the proposed civil servants’ mass strike action over CoLA, but a lot will be at stake in the country’s health facilities.

This is because the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) said during the days of the industrial action, which is set to start on September 16, 2019, things would not be normal in the country’s health facilities.
SWADNU Secretary General Sibusiso Lushaba said the law did not allow them to strike, especially over cost-of-living-adjustment (CoLA). He said this was because as nurses, they were essential service providers.

Instead, he said the law only allowed them to go for arbitration once they had deadlocked with the employer and a certificate of unresolved dispute could then be issued by the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC).

Partake

Lushaba said they could not say they would partake in the proposed strike action because the Industrial Relations Act of 2000 (as ammended) did not allow them to be part of such industrial actions.
“However, operations in the country’s health facilities will not be normal during the days of the strike action,” he said.

According to the secretary general, this was because they would be ‘working’ in the strike action.
On that note, SWADNU President Bheki Mamba said they were working on other options because they felt like going to arbitration with government would not yield positive results for them.
He said this was because the last time they went to arbitration with government, the administration took the matter to the Industrial Court of Eswatini. Luckily for them, he said they won the matter.
“However, government appealed the judgment and it was set aside,” he said.

On that note, he said to them, it seemed like following the law by going to arbitration would not work for them.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Lizzy Nkosi, said there were forums where the nurses’ union meets with the ministry and government. She said these forums were the round table where public sector associations (PSAs) meet for negotiations with the government negotiation team (GNT), together with monthly meetings where the nurses union meets with Nurses’ Council and the ministry.

“We will use these structures to negotiate with the nurses’ union and further remind them that they should do things by the law,” the minister said.
The PSAs strike is set to start on September 16, 2019 and the civil servants’ main concern is government’s failure to award them a reasonable CoLA during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years where they were demanding 7.85 per cent and 6.55 per cent, respectively.

On another note, the issue of CoLA for the 2019/20 financial year is yet to be discussed at the round table and the PSAs have made it clear that they would not demand anything below 5.5 per cent.