Nurses halt strike plans

THE Namibia Nurses’ Union (Nanu) has ruled out a national strike by its members for now, but vowed to resort to it if all other options to solve their differences with the Government fail.

Nanu Secretary General Abner Shopati told nurses last week that their lawyers were still communicating with Government in a bid to solve a standoff over payment for work done on Sundays and public holidays. Shopati said they had extensive discussions with Labour Commissioner Bro-Mathew Shinguadja and they have agreed to give those negotiations a last chance to solve the dispute.”A Strike is not one of the options at this stage.By contrast, this (strike) cannot be ruled out in the future,” Shopati told a packed hall.Nanu and Government have been embroiled in a dispute over issues related to nurses’ pay for months now.When the nurses refused to drop their demands, Government eventually came out and said it could not talk to Nanu as it was not the officially recognised bargaining unit.Shopati said they would approach the Labour Court if the discussions failed.Nanu applied for Government recognition in January.In terms of labour legislation, Government had 30 days to reply.The Government responded by stating that their recognition agreement with the Namibia Public Workers’ Union (Napwu) could not be rescinded unless so ordered by the courts.Nanu was thus advised to approach the Labour Court to nullify the recognition agreement.Shopati said going to court would be costly for the union.”We want to iron the things out in the negotiations.Once that fails, we can go to court.But it is not our first option at this stage,” he told The Namibian.Nanu claims it represents the majority of nurses and wants to negotiate their work conditions instead of leaving it to Napwu.The main issue that led to the dispute was the calculation of nurses’ pay for work done on Sundays and public holidays.Shopati said they had extensive discussions with Labour Commissioner Bro-Mathew Shinguadja and they have agreed to give those negotiations a last chance to solve the dispute.”A Strike is not one of the options at this stage.By contrast, this (strike) cannot be ruled out in the future,” Shopati told a packed hall.Nanu and Government have been embroiled in a dispute over issues related to nurses’ pay for months now.When the nurses refused to drop their demands, Government eventually came out and said it could not talk to Nanu as it was not the officially recognised bargaining unit.Shopati said they would approach the Labour Court if the discussions failed.Nanu applied for Government recognition in January.In terms of labour legislation, Government had 30 days to reply.The Government responded by stating that their recognition agreement with the Namibia Public Workers’ Union (Napwu) could not be rescinded unless so ordered by the courts.Nanu was thus advised to approach the Labour Court to nullify the recognition agreement.Shopati said going to court would be costly for the union.”We want to iron the things out in the negotiations.Once that fails, we can go to court.But it is not our first option at this stage,” he told The Namibian.Nanu claims it represents the majority of nurses and wants to negotiate their work conditions instead of leaving it to Napwu.The main issue that led to the dispute was the calculation of nurses’ pay for work done on Sundays and public holidays.