Religious leaders and the national government have stepped in to mediate the 17-day-long nurses’ strike.
The nurses want county bosses to sign and register the disputed CBA, which counties now say is too costly.
In separate meetings, the Kenya National Union of Nurses met religious leaders led by Cardinal John Njue.
The government meeting was chaired by Health CS Cleopa Mailu and PS Julius Korir.
The religious leaders will act as arbitrators and will engage the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Council of Governors to try and resolve the dispute.
Mailu asked the union to return to work as the negotiations continue.
Speaking to the Star, KNUN acting secretary general Maurice Opetu welcomed religious leaders’ interest in resolving the dispute.
“We met religious leaders this morning and they wanted us to put the matters right on what our demands were. We were quite clear we want the signing of the CBA,” Opetu said.
The negotiations come even as CoG insisted that the industrial action is illegal.
Some counties have threatened not to pay the nurses for the days they have been on strike.
But Opetu termed this a tactic the governors are using to scuttle their efforts and the union operations.
“No amount of intimidation will stop us in this revolution to ensure fairness for the Kenyan nurse, whether it is through holding back the nurses’ pay or stopping their remittances to the union, we will continue on our course,” he said. Opetu said the strike will continue.
He told off KNUN chairperson John Bii, who did not take part in the negotiations, saying he was ‘not part of the union’.
Bii had disowned the strike, terming it illegal, while secretary general Seth Panyako said the workers are legally on strike. Panyako’s side accused the rival group of being used by some individuals in the national and county governments to undermine the union’s activities.
Last Saturday, CoG directed county payroll managers to stop remitting nurses’ monthly contributions to the health workers’ union.
“We are not going to relent in our efforts, even as the governors use intimidation and threats to try and stop us. We will continue regardless of the time it takes for them to agree to our demands,” Opetu said on Monday.