Health Unions threaten to strike on 1 Nov

By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody and Aisha Nazim

Tuesday, 29 Oct 2013

The Joint Council of Health Unions threatened a 24-hour token strike on 1 November, to protest against the failure of the Ministry of Health to address salary anomalies among other issues.

Addressing a media briefing today, they maintained the measure they are resorting to, is due to the failure of repeated discussions and negotiations held over the years with the relevant authorities of the Health Ministry, in particular with the Secretary and the Minister, through which they sought redress for the issues the members of the unions have been facing.

Co-convener of the Government Nursing Officers’ Union (GNOA), Saman Ratnapriya, said the demands ranged from inadequacies and discrepancies of salary increments to various allowances for communication, transport and overtime payment. “Emergency services will be maintained while we engage in the strike, and the staff at certain hospitals which deal primarily with children, pregnant women and cancer patients would be exempted from the strike as we are concerned about the well-being of our patients,” Ratnapriya explained.

Co-convener of the Professions Supplementary to Medicine (PSM), Saman Jayasekera, said 15 health sector unions under the aegis of the joint unions will be part of the token strike, with a total workforce of 45,000 supporting the move. They will be meeting again on 15 November to discuss the next course of action. Some of the issues that are not addressed by the Health Ministry include promotions and duty free vehicle permits.

Until the issues are addressed and an agreeable solution is provided, the unions will not end their agitation, he declared.(Ceylon Today Online)

State doctors in Sri Lanka to launch island wide strike next month
Mon, Oct 28, 2013, 10:12 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Oct 28, Colombo: The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), the powerful union of Sri Lanka's government doctors, has announced that it would carry out an island wide strike next month.
The GMOA has announced that the association would launch an island wide strike on November 4th to win several demands.
GMOA says that the association and the Ministries of Health and Public Administration and Home Affairs have reached an agreement two years ago on the promotions granted to doctors.
However, the government has failed to implement the agreement.

According to the GMOA, the island wide strike is to be carried out to demand for the promotions of doctors and three other issues.