ABSUTH: Again, Medical & Health Workers Union, Others Resume Strike, Issue Warning

 

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) Aba, has announced the resumption of strike action over unpaid salaries and backlog of arrears.

 

The Unions affected by the renewed strike are; the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals Research Institutes and Associated Institutions.

 

This strike comes in less than two months after the Association of Resident doctors in ABSUTH called off their strike following payment of 7-months salary arrears they received and a promise by governor Okezie Ikpeazu to pay off the remaining years.

According to the secretary, JAC, Comrade Godson Nwaoha, the strike renewal was influenced by the state government’s decision to pay the aggrieved unions one month salary while resident doctors and others received 7-months salary arrears payment.

 

Nwaoha told journalists on Thursday, November 17, 2022 that;

 

“The issue at stake now is that our members are not happy with the situation at hand. When the resident doctors were on strike for almost two years, staff from other departments at least in order not to allow the system to be completely shut down, decided to call off their own strike. But we were surprised that the government decided to pay the resident doctors 7 months salaries and paid others, who assisted to keep the system running only one month.

 

This is not fair and just. Besides, it is a kind of divide and rule tactics. So, it is in view of this situation that our members have decided to withdraw their services”.

 

Nwaoha demanded that the unions receive same treatment given to resident doctors, warning that the strike which took effect from November 4, will be indefinite pending when the Abia state government meets their demands.