Nurses in Kerala’s Thrissur district to strike work on 5 January demanding better wages, working conditions

Earlier, more than 15,000 members of the association observed 15 December as a “black day”. They attended work wearing black armbands to press for their demands.

Nurses from Kerala have won laurels worldwide for their professionalism but they struggle to get even the government-set minimum wages in their home state.

The nurses demanded a minimum daily wage of ₹1,500, an assured staff-patient ratio, and an end to contractual employment so that those on contract are made permanent employees.

“No increase in salary or revision of minimum wages, merely contract appointments and hospital management have made the labour department look like a scarecrow. The nursing community to begin widespread agitation across the state,” read a flex board in Thrissur city.

“On 5 January, minimum staff will work and the rest of us will march to the collectorate. If the authorities do not take action, we will go on a statewide strike,” Divya ES, the state treasurer of UNA, told South First.

She said UNA’s organisational work starts in Thrissur city, and hence they are starting their protest from the district.

Private hospitals skip talks

The UPA said the labour department convened two meetings to sort out the issues. The first one was convened at the labour commission office in Kochi on 23 December. Only half of the private hospitals attended the meeting, the association said.

A second meeting on Monday, 2 January at the regional labour commission office in Thrissur did not see any representative of private hospitals, prompting the nurses to strike work on Thursday.

Jagdish Prasad Committee report

The Supreme Court in 2016 set up an expert committee after the Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) — one of the oldest and most prominent associations representing nurses — sought clear guidelines on their working conditions and pay scales in the private sector.

The Jagdish Prasad Committee collected data from various states and concluded in its report that the salaries and basic facilities provided to nurses in private hospitals and nursing homes were inadequate.

Recommending better working conditions for the nurses, it also laid down broad guidelines on their remunerations.

The committee recommended that salaries in hospitals with more than 200 beds should be on a par with those at state-run hospitals.

In hospitals with more than 100 beds, the salary should not be less than 90 percent of the state government salaries, while in hospitals with 50-100 beds, it should not be lower than 75 percent of the salary of the state government nurses.

The committee also said the salary should not be below ₹20,000 even in hospitals that have less than 50 beds.