Nurses boycott PS meeting

HEALTH Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula yesterday challenged the Namibia Nurses’ Union to take Government to court over its interpretation of the Labour Act.

Nurses are pressing Government for a fair deal on overtime. An unrepentant Shangula also claimed yesterday that a demonstration by nurses earlier this month was inspired by politicians and unionists with hidden agendas who capitalised on the concerns of the nurses.Shangula was speaking in Windhoek at what was supposed to be a meeting with nurses, called to respond to a petition handed to the Ministry during a protest by nurses on December 6.However, as happened with Shangula’s first attempt to meet with nurses, they again stayed away in droves.Only senior nurses and representatives of the Ministry and hospital management turned up to hear what Shangula had to say.”We were informed that the current standoff is not a purely labour issue.It is loaded with political undertones.My advice is to keep it a labour issue,” the Permanent Secretary told those in attendance.He did not elaborate on who had informed him.A spokesperson for Nanu said the nurses stayed away because the Ministry did not contact the union to invite them.At the meeting, Shangula tried to shrug off most of the allegations listed in the petition and warned about the consequences of changes to the pay system.”In terms of the law, you stand to lose a lot if you do not calculate every step carefully.In the end everybody will have to answer for himself or herself.If you will get back pay, you will not share it with anybody.If you are to pay back, it will have to come from your own pocket,” Shangula said.Asked whether this statement could be interpreted as a threat, he said he was “only informing” the nurses about the consequences of their action.”In Government nobody owes anybody.You pay if you owe Government and you receive when Government owes you.It is a straightforward issue,” he said.The nurses demonstrated because they were not satisfied with new calculation of overtime payment and shift allowances for work on Sundays, public holidays and nights, which resulted in them taking home less money than before.Shangula said the Ministry of Health approached the Office of the Prime Minister, which issued the circular according to which the payment was reduced, to explain its content.By yesterday, he was still waiting for an answer from the Prime Minister’s Office, who started working on a new circular on November 24.Shangula disputed allegations that medical interns (newly qualified doctors) were receiving higher salaries than chief control registered nurses.He said medical interns started at N$95 000 a year, while a chief control registered nurse received a starting salary of N$144 000 – equal to that of a medical doctor.”In fact, it should be doctors who should complain that they are getting the same salary as a nurse,” he said.The Permanent Secretary said there was no way nursing students could receive salaries while their counterparts in teaching and other professions received nothing.”Why should student nurses be different from medical students, student teachers and others? Medical interns are not students.They are qualified doctors,” he said.Shangula denied the allegation that nurses were worse off than other civil servants.He said that in 1997 the Wages and Salary Commission recommended a review of salaries.After the review, the salary of an enrolled nurse increased by 111 per cent from between N$24 000 and N$28 000 a year to between N$50 000 and N$62 000.The salaries of senior enrolled nurses increased by 87 per cent and that of a registered nurse by 128 per cent.Shangula said he was the last person the nurses should blame, since the public was always complaining that he backed the nurses whenever issues concerning their behaviour came up.He claimed that only four of the 11 points raised in the petition had merit.”How on earth could adult people like you be taken for a ride? It reminds me of America and the United Kingdom who went to invade Iraq on the pretext that there were weapons of mass destruction, which were non-existent.Most of the allegations (of the nurses) are pure lies and the best way to resolve this is through the courts,” he said.An unrepentant Shangula also claimed yesterday that a demonstration by nurses earlier this month was inspired by politicians and unionists with hidden agendas who capitalised on the concerns of the nurses.Shangula was speaking in Windhoek at what was supposed to be a meeting with nurses, called to respond to a petition handed to the Ministry during a protest by nurses on December 6.However, as happened with Shangula’s first attempt to meet with nurses, they again stayed away in droves.Only senior nurses and representatives of the Ministry and hospital management turned up to hear what Shangula had to say. “We were informed that the current standoff is not a purely labour issue.It is loaded with political undertones.My advice is to keep it a labour issue,” the Permanent Secretary told those in attendance.He did not elaborate on who had informed him.A spokesperson for Nanu said the nurses stayed away because the Ministry did not contact the union to invite them.At the meeting, Shangula tried to shrug off most of the allegations listed in the petition and warned about the consequences of changes to the pay system.”In terms of the law, you stand to lose a lot if you do not calculate every step carefully.In the end everybody will have to answer for himself or herself.If you will get back pay, you will not share it with anybody.If you are to pay back, it will have to come from your own pocket,” Shangula said.Asked whether this statement could be interpreted as a threat, he said he was “only informing” the nurses about the consequences of their action.”In Government nobody owes anybody.You pay if you owe Government and you receive when Government owes you.It is a straightforward issue,” he said.The nurses demonstrated because they were not satisfied with new calculation of overtime payment and shift allowances for work on Sundays, public holidays and nights, which resulted in them taking home less money than before.Shangula said the Ministry of Health approached the Office of the Prime Minister, which issued the circular according to which the payment was reduced, to explain its content.By yesterday, he was still waiting for an answer from the Prime Minister’s Office, who started working on a new circular on November 24.Shangula disputed allegations that medical interns (newly qualified doctors) were receiving higher salaries than chief control registered nurses.He said medical interns started at N$95 000 a year, while a chief control registered nurse received a starting salary of N$144 000 – equal to that of a medical doctor.”In fact, it should be doctors who should complain that they are getting the same salary as a nurse,” he said.The Permanent Secretary said there was no way nursing students could receive salaries while their counterparts in teaching and other professions received nothing.”Why should student nurses be different from medical students, student teachers and others? Medical interns are not students.They are qualified doctors,” he said.Shangula denied the allegation that nurses were worse off than other civil servants.He said that in 1997 the Wages and Salary Commission recommended a review of salaries.After the review, the salary of an enrolled nurse increased by 111 per cent from between N$24 000 and N$28 000 a year to between N$50 000 and N$62 000.The salaries of senior enrolled nurses increased by 87 per cent and that of a registered nurse by 128 per cent.Shangula said he was the last person the nurses should blame, since the public was always complaining that he backed the nurses whenever issues concerning their behaviour came up.He claimed that only four of the 11 points raised in the petition had merit.”How on earth could adult people like you be taken for a ride? It reminds me of America and the United Kingdom who went to invade Iraq on the pretext that there were weapons of mass destruction, which were non-exi
stent.Most of the allegations (of the nurses) are pure lies and the best way to resolve this is through the courts,” he said.