Hope by Nigerians that the ongoing industrial action by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) will be suspended today has lost due to an agreement reportedly reached, it has emerged that the medical experts have refused to shift grounds following the sustenance of ‘no work, no pay’ rule.
Information gathered from Monday Guardian that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige while speaking at a two-day meeting involving the ministry, Budget Office, National Salaries, Income and Wage Commission, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and NARD with the Ministry of Labour and Employment as a conciliator at the weekend in Abuja confirmed that the withdrawal of ‘no work, no pay’ rule was not part of the negotiated items.
The minister said that the NMA was mandated to work with the health ministry to expunge the rule through instrumentality of alternative dispute resolution.
“The meeting did not discuss the issue of ‘no work, no pay.’ We cannot, because the matter is in industrial court. But the meeting agreed that the NMA
should work with the Ministry of Health and NARD so that the matter before the court can be withdrawn for alternative dispute resolution as earlier advocated by the NICN”, Ngige was quoted to have said.
He added that the gathering granted NARD the leeway to convey its National Executive Council meeting to make definite pronouncements on the status of the industrial action.
The minister, however, said a non-victimisation clause of those that participated in the strike was inserted in the agreement struck.
No comments:
Post a Comment