By Fabian Anawo
The Joint Health Workers’ Union JOHESU and Assembly of Healthcare Professionals, AHPA have served the Federal Government fifteen days notice to go on strike.
The notice took effect from May 10, 2023.
The decision to embark on the strike was taken after an expanded emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of both bodies held in Abuja last Monday.
They are demanding an end to alleged inconsistency in the ongoing negotiation for the adjustment of CONHESS salary scale for non-Physician health cadres.
In a letter to the Minister of Health dated May nine, the Unions accused the Ministry of Health of attempting to deviate from agreed rules and terms of their engagement which emphasised non discrimination
in the wages and benefit package of health workers.
They alleged that recent communication from the Ministry of Health points to attempt at sabotaging the report of the Technical Committee on the adjustment on CONHESS as was the case with CONMESS on the grounds that it will distort the relativity of CONMESS to CONHESS.
According to JOHESU, the technical committee had representatives from all the key relevant agencies of government and they agreed that relativity has been entrenched at the entry point in the Civil Service.
Besides, the Unions pointed out that the issue of CONHESS adjustment has been resolved since 30th September 2017 and
blamed the ministry for frustrating the implementation.
It commended the Technical Committee report of the Federal Government on the adjustment of CONHESS and demanded the full implementation in tandem with all known tenets of fairness and justice as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
JOHESU also called for the immediate implementation of the circular on Consultant Pharmacy cadre in the public service as well as the payment of peculiar allowance to its members and the withheld salaries of members at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Jos University Teaching Hospital and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital since April 2018.
The Unions said that except all the above issues are resolved, their members nationwide would down tools after midnight of May 24.
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