THRISSUR: The strike proposed to be held by the United Nurses Association from Monday has been postponed to Wednesday after the Chief Minister’s office said it is ready to hold talks for an amicable solution.Association state president Jasmin Shah said on Saturday the decision was taken in the wake of the High Court mediation and the Chief Minister’s office seeking three days’ time to decide on the issue.
He said the association held its state council meet on Saturday and it was a unanimous decision to postpone the strike.
The High Court had on Friday barred nurses’ organisations from resorting to strike. However, nurses said they would still go ahead with the strike. “We got a call from the Chief Minister’s office expressing readiness to discuss the issue. In case the managements do not agree to accept our demands to fix the minimum wage of Rs 20,000 during the mediation on Wednesday, nurses will definitely go on strike,” he said.
Until then protests will be staged in all districts. Only in the essential wards and ICUs, nurses will continue to provide service.On whether they would go ahead with their strike in front of the Secretariat from July 21, he said it will depend on the outcome of the discussions on July 19.
The United Nurses Association is ready to drop its plan to go on strike if the hospital managements agree to pay the minimum wage of Rs 20,000. He said most of the hospitals in the state have employed nurses with several years of service as trainees. They are paid a meagre salary of Rs 6,500. This cannot be accepted, he said.
INA to go ahead with strike
The Indian Nurses Association (INA) will continue with the strike from Monday. “We will go ahead with the strike irrespective of the stand taken by other associations,” said Liju Vengal, INA national president. The association has not received any missive from the CMO regarding talks, he
said.