Kenya : Respect health workers’ rights

In partnership with the Kenyan Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and Public Services International, a Global Union Federation of more than 700 trade unions representing 30 million workers in 154 countries.

Health workers have been on strike in Kenya since March 15th over noncompliance with the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement and the accompanying implementation matrix signed in 2021. The Kenyan government refuses to respect previous CBA agreements and bargain in good faith. Instead, the government is demanding cuts and responding to workers’ demands with intransigence and violence.

The government has threatened to fire striking doctors, arrest the KMPDU leadership, stop paying union dues, and cut workers across the public sector. The Council of Governors, which signed the current collective agreement in 2017, is claiming that doctors already earn enough. While the Ministry of Health is intent on slashing junior doctor’s (Interns) salaries by 90%. The internship program is required for qualified doctors to get their license to practice.

This strike began just one week after KMPDU SG, Dr. Davji Bhimji Attellah was shot in the head at close range with a teargas canister during a peaceful union protest in Nairobi. Comrade Davji was severely injured, and his life was only saved by the quick actions of his fellow healthcare workers protesting alongside him. PSI affiliates have written letters to Kenyan embassies around the world demanding answers and calling on the government to listen to the demands of health workers.

Health workers, across the public and private sector, are committed to continuing the strike and are organizing protests every Tuesday.

Please join Kenyan health workers in the call for the government to respect collective bargaining agreements, bargain in good faith, and put an urgent end to the threats and violence.

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