Doctors' union officials started a dramatic campaign against the Employment and Labour Relations Court by taking their strike issue to social media platforms.
Top officials of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) posted their pictures on social media platforms, daring the court to identify and jail them on Thursday which the labour court has set as deadline to end their industrial action or be jailed for contempt.
Six of the top KMPDU officials, led by secretary general Ouma Oluga posted their faces on Facebook and Twitter, wearing their white coats and stethoscopes as they said they are ready for prison.
And at a Nairobi church where they attended Sunday service, Oluga maintained they will remain on strike until the government comes to their terms.
Oluga said they have given the government up to seven proposals on how to implement the contentious 2013 Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) which the government has so far disowned.
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Doctors now take to social media to defy court order.[/caption]
But Health Cabinet secretary Cleopa Mailu and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission have said the CBA the doctors have been referring to was never formulated or finalised.
In a quick rejoinder yesterday, the government accused the union officials of changing goal posts claiming they (union officials) have proved not to be ready to find way out of the impasse which has crippled medical services in the country’s public health facilities.
“We once again reiterate government’s commitment to consultations and negotiations with the doctors’ union that will lead to an amicable solution within the confines of the law,” read a statement from Health Ministry.
Oluga, however, insisted the union officials who have one-month jail term hanging on their heads will not bow to pressure but stand firm even if it means being jailed for their hardline stance.
“We shall proceed to jail when the day (Thursday) comes because that is the law and we have no option. We are proud to do it but we do not need to get to such a situation,” Oluga told journalists.
“We were called to have meetings and the government representatives were only available for only two days and missed the rest. You cannot go back to work when what you have been asking for has not been implemented,” he added.
Judge Hellen Wasilwa issued a suspended sentence to seven union officials to go back to work within two weeks or face a one-month civil jail term.
Oluga said their strike is not about a push for their salary increment but a call to improve the general working environment in the country’s health facilities and also to ensure every Kenyan has access to a medical doctor.
He was speaking yesterday in Nairobi’s Komarock estate when he and other union officials attended a church service at Oasis of Miracle sChurch, Komarock.
Doctors have remained defiant for 49 days even refusing a lucrative government offer of a 40 per cent salary increment, leading to widespread suffering of patients in public hospitals.
The 40 per cent pay rise offer, which President Uhuru Kenyatta made to the doctors when he met their representatives at State House, Mombasa, early this month, would see the least-paid doctor take home Sh196,989 monthly up from the current Sh140,244. The pay increase includes allowances due to the doctors in various job groups.
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