Shadow of nurses stir looms large

KOCHI: The strike by nurses who once were largely disorganised, now seems united and focused, with hospital after hospital falling under the shadow of the agitation.About two months back private hospitals in the state with an active union were a rarity in the state. In fact the United Nurses Association (UNA), the largest association of the nurses in the state, was founded at the same time.But today, the organisation has branches in  432 hospitals across the state and is expanding by the day. “We hope to spread our units across the state. In the next six months we hope to bring about significant changes in the salaries of nurses in all hospitals across the state. The hospitals will be given notices stating our demands. Only if the talks fail do we go in for a strike,” said Jasminesha M, president, United Nurses Association.The list of hospitals that now have notices pending from the UNA include the St James Hospital, Thrissur, Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode, K V M Hospital, Cherthala, Al Shifa Hospital, Pathanamthitta and Gokulam Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.This is just the list of the hospitals under the UNA. Apart from this, there are other organisations like the All Kerala Nurses Welfare Association which have been striking in Kolenchery MOSC Medical College.The union members maintain that they are only looking to provide a platform for the long-pending grievances of the nurses. “We served notices to hospitals about a month ago. The issues were resolved amicably with 42 hospitals. Strike was resorted to only in five hospitals,” said Jasminesha.But not everyone is satisfied with these answers. Labour Minister Shibu Baby John said: “Many of these strikes are illegal. It is true there are genuine issues that need to be addressed. But the kind of direction the strikes are taking at the moment might defeat their very purpose.”“All hospitals were given notices to implement the minimum wages prescribed by the government. We have even issued circulars declaring that if any hospital is found deviating from the norm, it will be penalised. The Labour Department was given notice just one or two days prior to the strike. Even after two or three rounds of talks there were no compromises. In the case of the Kolenchery MOSC Medical Hospital, 17 of the 19 demands put forth by the nurses were met by the hospital management. But the union did not even consent to give a ten-day period for the hospital to consider the remaining demands,” the minister added.