UNA withdraws, but INAto go ahead with strike

The government notification on minimum wages for nurses and other employees in private hospitals in the State may have averted an indefinite strike proposed by a section of the nurses owing allegiance to the United Nurses’ Association (UNA) from Tuesday.

However, Indian Nurses’ Association (INA), which had earlier given the notice for indefinite strike from May 12, said they would go ahead with the strike as planned.

“We will go ahead with the strike because the wage structure proposed in the final notification is not what we were fighting for. Earlier, with a basic pay of ₹7,975, DA and other allowances a nurse would have got a salary of ₹16,000 plus. In the new notification, everything has been merged to a gross salary of ₹20,000 and after the statutory cuts, the take home would be between ₹17,000-18,000,’’ Mohammed Shihab, State general secretary of INA, said.

‘‘There are no allowances for those working in hospitals up to 100 beds. In the draft notification, all nurses in hospitals with 200 beds plus would have got a salary of ₹34,000. In the final notification, the highest gross salary proposed for nurses in hospitals with 800 plus beds is ₹30,000. But going by the bed strength calculation (three beds in general wards to be considered as one bed), even the big corporate hospitals in Kerala will fall in the 300-500 bed category. After fighting for so long, the nurses have been well and truly cheated,” Mr. Shihab said.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Private Hospitals Association (KPHA) is meeting in Kochi on Thursday to discuss the implications of the new revised wage structure.

KPHA representative Hussain Koya Thangal said the association cannot accept the new wage notification, which he claimed was not as per the Minimum Wages Act.

“We cannot implement this new wage structure and will seek legal measures to challenge it. None of the small hospitals can afford to pay so much for their staff. The Minister has not paid heed to our concerns,” he said.