The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) stands in solidarity with the striking nurses demanding better salaries, improved allowances and provision of medical essentials.
The nurses are demanding that the government reviews their salaries in line with the rising cost of living at a time most nurses are saying they received less amounts this month compared to other months. They are also demanding a review of housing and transport allowance saying the Public Service Commission (PSC) buses do not align with their shift patterns.
Nurses also want free medical care at public hospitals, arguing they can no longer afford treatment themselves. This, coupled with shortages of medical sundries and equipment for them to be able to diligently discharge their duties, has been crippling effective treatment and care for patients.
For years, medical workers have been calling for improved working conditions, enforceable staffing ratios and have been patient for too long while the government has been dragging feet.
We urge the nurses to be steadfast in their demands. The fight for the safety and dignity that nurses and their patients must be unrelenting until sanity is restored in the public health sector. The ZCTU reiterate that decent work is not a priviledge. It is not a secret that health sector workers are poorly remunerated and to cut some of their allowances is callous. The sector is collapsing simply because it is not being prioritised by central government.
The government needs to quickly respond, address concerns raised to save lives. It is embarrassing that the nurses have downed tools on the heels of remarks by the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Deputy Minister Kudakwashe Mnangagwa, that the lowest-paid civil servants now earns above the Poverty Datum Line and that government salaries have become competitive. We also call upon the government to address the welfare of all its employees as a matter of urgency for improved service delivery and not wait for them to down tools.
Tirivanhu Marimo
SECRETARY GENERAL
