Senior nurses in Zimbabwe have joined their junior colleagues in the industrial action over poor wages and working conditions.
Junior nurses have for more than three weeks now been on strike citing incapacitation as the soaring inflation has continuously eroded their salaries.
Announcing the job action through a Friday letter by their representative Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA), senior nurses said:
We note with concern the lack of urgency by the employer in addressing issues raised by Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA).
The ongoing incapacitation has not been doing any good to the patient care in this period of Covid-19 pandemic period.
After consultations, and deliberations, we hereby notify that we are withdrawing our services with immediate effect until the employer takes the nurses grievances seriously by way of fruitful negotiations.
They also observed that the sacrifices they are making, putting their lives on the line, were not commensurate with efforts by the employer.
Workers are demanding to be paid in United States dollars or equivalent as per their agreement with the employer in 2018 when the value of the local currency was at par with the U.S. dollar.
Meanwhile, the state has urged workers to be “realistic.”
More: NewZimbabwe