Medics union protest SRC move to reduce pay perks
By KNA, January 16, 2023A crisis looms in the health sector after the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) issued a 60-day strike notice on Saturday.
Led by KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah, the officials — who were addressing the media in Naivasha after holding a meeting on Saturday — opposed a move by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission(SRC) to reduce their allowances and salaries to put them at par with other workers in the public sector.
Should the strike start on March 6 as declared by the health professionals, millions of Kenyans who depend on public health services for healthcare stand to suffer.
The SRC recently released guidelines and an advisory to employers with a view to abolishing doctors’ contractual earnings and remuneration. But the professionals argue they were never consulted.
In the guidelines, SRC justified the move to develop the Allowances Policy Guideline for the Public Service, 2021, and said the guidelines were developed through a consultative and participatory process with stakeholder and public participation being undertaken as required by Articles 10 and 232 of the Constitution.
Structured approach
“The overarching objective of the Allowances Policy Guideline for the Public Service is to provide a structured approach to streamlining the management and administration of allowances to improve transparency, accountability, equity and fairness, thereby ensuring that the total public compensation bill is affordable and fiscally sustainable,” said SRC.
It further stated that payment of the allowance, in addition to the basic salary, amounts to double compensation. Consequently, SRC advised that the allowance be abolished and cease to be payable.
For instance, the Sitting Allowances for Institutional Internal Committee Members were abolished since SRC was of the opinion that they were to facilitate the execution of the mandate of the institutions.
Atellah and KPDMU, on their part, argued that the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) are contractually binding between employers and employees, pursuant to International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions No. 98 and 87, read together with the Kenyan Constitution 2010 Article 41 and relevant employment and labour legislative tools.
“It is a national and global labour practice never to review remunerations backwards. It is unethical and colonial. Non-Practice Allowance was initiated for purposes of incentive and compensation” he said. He added: “Officers benefiting from this allowance are compensated for the loss of earnings they forego while actively practicing in medical facilities; that is the rationale behind including the same in our CBA as a negotiable item, meaning it is part and parcel of doctors’ contractual terms and conditions of employment,” he added.
Not a signatory
The KPDMU argues that SRC is a stranger and not a signatory to the said negotiated, concluded and registered CBA, and therefore does not have the rationale and or constitutional mandate to scrap or abolish such remuneration gains.
Atellah noted that basic salary, including all other allowances, present a bare minimum standard of living of an employee, and any unconstitutional attempt to reduce even a single component of the gross earnings will directly suffocate the welfare of members. It will also seriously injure the productivity and motivation of the entire workforce in the public sector, which subsequently will translate into serious negative impact to the health care, he said.
“Consequently, KMPDU rejects and opposes the said guidelines and policies for their repugnant, non-considerate ill intention,” the KPDMU officials said.
The Government early this month held a meeting with KMPDU officials that averted a nationwide strike that was to start this month of January. This is after in a press briefing on November 26, 2022, the union said it would pursue industrial action if the government failed to honour a July 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Some of the grievances highlighted by the doctors during the meeting with the Government include basic salary adjustments, creation of call rooms, posting of medical interns, employment of more doctors and provision of working tools.
Atellah has called upon the government to obey a court judgement issued on October 21, 2021, compelling it to implement the CBA. Failure to this, the union says it will resort to industrial action.
“We also urge for your availability and active participation should we require your energy to fuel our programmes,” he said, adding that instead the Government should employ all unemployed doctors in the country to help meet a serious deficit.
Reports from the Ministry of Health show that as of 2020, Kenya had 26.3 registered medical officers per 100,000 population, which was a slight increase in ratio in comparison to the 2019 figures.
Countrywide, Kenya had 12,792 registered medical doctors in 2020.
Recent figures put Kenya’s doctor-to-patient ratio at one to 16,000, which is far below a recommendation of the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) of one to 1,000.