KOCHI: Despite opposition from hospital management on salary hike of nurses, the Minimum Wages Committee on Thursday approved the hike and recommended it to the government. The Labour Commissioner handed over the recommendations with the dissent note of the managements to the Labour Secretary. The expert committee has suggested that the hike should be implemented with retrospective effect from October 1. The United Nurses Association, the Indian Nurses Association and trade unions signed the agreement at the meeting of the Minimum Wages Committee on Thursday.
In the meeting, the hospital managements raised many objections, stating they would not be able to give the hike. Apart from the salary hike, they also opposed the shift and training systems. The Labour Department will now publish a draft notification and those who have objections would be given time to file their complaint.
However, the final notification will come only after another round of discussions. Welcoming the decision, UNA president Jasmin Shah and INA general secretary Mohammed Shihab said it is now for the government to publish the notification at the earliest. They said their demands have been agreed upon and the nurses would get a better pay.
The minimum wages of nurses was fixed at a meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in July. The minimum salary of hospitals with less than 50 beds was fixed at Rs 20,000, which includes all allowances. The Hospital Managements Association has already informed the Minimum Wages Committee that they cannot pay more than 25 per cent hike in the existing basic salary.