FIJI: Nurses strike gathers momentum
Updated
A strike by nurses in Fiji is gathering momentum with the country's major hospitals and clinics reduced to offering skeleton services. More than 14-hundred nurses - members of the Fiji Nursing Association - walked off the job at midnight last night.
Presenter: Samisoni Pareti
Speakers: Kuini Lutua, general secretary, Fiji Nursing Association
LUTUA: Very happy indeed, we did not expect the turn-up that we received this morning, but it seems that we are now also receiving members that had put in their names to be rostered for night shift and morning shift. So the support is overwhelming from our members up till now.
PARETI: Hospitals, some of them are still open although some of the services they offer have been reduced or closed. Are you unhappy that some of the nurses are still out there working?
LUTUA: Not really, there are some nurses who are out there because they are not members of the association, and there are others who say that because of their faith they will have to work. We respect the individual decisions that they have taken. We are really targeting the nurses that we know should come out, we're targeting the nursing leaders because we know if those nurse leaders come out then the situation will be in such a way that the Minister for Health will have to ask the Prime Minister to make a quick decision.
PARETI: There was some apprehension, fear perhaps that the police or even the soldiers may intervene and come in. Is that a concern for the Fiji Nursing Association?
LUTUA: We have been reassured by the security forces that they will be there to protect us and also to look at those that might want to take this opportunity to do other things that they want. From our side we have continued to stress that this is not a political move, our stand is not politically motivated, we are specifically fighting for the rights of members of our association both in nursing and also the medical orderly profession. So with that we are quite confident that as long as we focus on that and we do not break the law then we should be ok.
PARETI: Ministry for Public Service has said that they're prepared to stay as long as they want, and I guess the same thing is coming from the nurses. How far are you going to maintain your stand?
LUTUA: Well in collective bargaining it is a give and take both from the employer side and the employees or the workers side, and we all know that the employer always has an upper hand. And they are the ones who should really be making a decision and we're talking about the health of the people, the Minister of Health. There really should be if they do have the deep concern for the health of the people of this country then they've got to call the shots now, they've got to call for further dialogue and perhaps give us a better offer than what they offered us yesterday.
