By : Matters India Reporter
Kochi: As a strike for better wages among nurses in Kerala aggravates, the head of Syro-Malabar Church Cardinal George Alencherry has urged private hospitals to ensure that nurses get salaries at par with those in the government sector.
The cardinal made the call at the inauguration of the Syro Malabar Church day on July 3 at the Church headquarters at Mount St Thomas in Kakkanad, Kochi.
With the strike entering its third week, the Indian Nurses’ Association (INA) and the United Nurses’ Association (UNA) have announced their decision to escalate their protests for fair wages . The unions allege that the state government has gone back on its word, although at the last industrial relations committee (IRC) on June 27 Kerala state government had agreed to finalize and notify the minimum wages of nurses.
Cardinal Alencherry said that he was hopeful that hospitals managed by Catholic denominations are paying fair wages to the nursing staff, but asked all hospitals to re-examine this in the light of the latest protests by nursing associations in Kerala. He also went on to say that there was no need to promote charitable works at Catholic hospitals without paying fair wages to nurses.
The prelate said that although he had not examined all the demands put forward in the latest strike, paying fair wages to nurses – who provide a valuable service to society, was certainly part of social justice.
All Catholic managements have agreed to follow the recommendation by a special committee assigned by the Supreme Court to make sure that nurses at privately owned hospitals get salaries at par with those in the government sector, Cardinal said. He urged all managements of private hospitals to follow the same.
Cardinal Alencherry also called on the state government of Kerala to take speedy action to notify the minimum wages based on the recommendation of the committee set up by the Supreme Court.