HEALTH WORKERS REACT OVER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BILL ON STRIKE.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, and the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, on Sunday, knocked members of the House of Representatives over plans to outlaw strikes in the health sector. The bodies described a proposed bill to that effect as draconian and an assault on the democratic rights of employees. According to reports, the medical doctors and other health workers usually embark on industrial actions, which cripple the health system in the country.

The bill, which is being sponsored by a member of the House representing Igbo Eze north and Udenu Federal constituency, Enugu State, Simon Atige, is titled, an Act to amend the Trade Disputes Act, cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to prohibit medical practitioners in the employment of federal, state and local governments in the essential service sectors from embarking on strikes and to accelerate administrative and judicial proceedings in the determination of trade disputes involving them and related matters. The bill will also create a new subsection 3, which states, subject to the requirement of fair hearing, the National Industrial Court may abridge procedures and time stipulations for the purpose of a speedy resolution of the dispute.

However, the National President of NARD, Godiya Ishaya, in an interview said that the move by the lawmakers was against the rights of workers to express their grievances. He said the House of Representatives should first promulgate laws that prohibit the government from reneging on several agreements it enters into with health workers.