The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) says its members should be on alert for possible industrial action over the delayed adjustment of the consolidated health salary structure (CONHESS).
CONHESS is the standardised public-sector pay structure for
healthcare workers, excluding medical doctors and dental surgeons.
Members of JOHESU are the Medical and Health Workers’ Union
of Nigeria; the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals; the Senior Staff
Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals; the Research Institutes and
Associated Institutions; and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and
Associated Institutions; including its technical arm, the Assembly of
Healthcare Professional Associations.
In a statement issued on Monday, the union warned against
further delays in implementing its demand following a virtual meeting of its
national executive council (NEC) held on Thursday, October 29.
The statement was signed by Kabiru Minjibir and Martin
Egbanubi, JOHESU’s national chairman and national secretary, respectively.
“NEC-in-Session placed its members on notice to be on alert
and commence mobilisation across health institutions in the country for
possible industrial action and for necessary but corrosive and unparalleled
resistance should the government succumb to any threat or action by persons or
groups to thwart this flagship demand of JOHESU,” the statement reads.
JOHESU said the adjustment of CONHESS had remained
unresolved for about 13 years, describing its demand as one of the oldest in
the history of organised labour.
The union, however, commended the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for taking steps to secure the
implementation of the adjustment.
JOHESU said it would resist any attempt to frustrate the
process, noting that President Bola Tinubu had promised its members in June
2023 to actualise the adjustment when he appealed to them to suspend their
strike after assuming office.
It added that the federal ministry of health and social
welfare had forwarded the 2021 report of the high-level body technical
committee on the adjustment to the Budget Office of the Federation on June 5,
2023.
JOHESU said the inability of the presidential committee on
salaries to meet had continued to delay approval of the adjustment.
The union said it would resist any further attempt to use
the committee’s inability to meet as a reason to delay the process.
JOHESU said the Trade Unions Act, Cap. T14, Laws of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, permits unions to negotiate benefit packages and
collective bargaining agreements on behalf of their members.
The union added that its members should remain alert and
prepare to resist any move by the federal government to yield to threats or
actions by individuals and groups seeking to frustrate the demand.
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