Thrissur nurses’ strike escalates as wage talks fail at Jubilee, Amala hospitals

Thrissur: Talks mediated by Thrissur archdiocese to end the nurses’ strike at the church-run Jubilee Mission Medical College Hospital and Amala Hospital have failed. The nurses affiliated to the United Nurses Association (UNA) led a protest march to the archdiocese after the talks on Sunday afternoon, and launched a blockade on the otherwise crowded Bishop’s House Road.

The blockade started from about 6pm and was continuing even at 10pm.Only ambulances and emergency vehicles are being permitted through that road. Some of the nurses have joined the agitation in the night hours holding their babies in hand and braving the rains. Large number of police personnel have been deployed on the Bishop Palace Road. However, police have refrained from forcibly removing the protesting nurses.Thrissur archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath presided over the conciliation meeting, which was attended by the management representatives of both the hospitals as well as functionaries of the UNA.The UNA office-bearers alleged that the management representatives and archdiocese officials did not accept their demands for a reasonable hike in the wages of the nurses. Instead the management suggested all should wait till the govt announced the revised minimum wages for the nurses.

They said the nurses strike has crossed 104 days and the govt should urgently intervene to persuade the management to hike the wages.Meanwhile, the management representatives claimed that the conciliation talks were held in a cordial atmosphere. In a communication issued after the meeting, the management representatives said there was a consensus at the meeting to take joint initiative to persuade the govt to issue revised minimum wages at the earliest.However, the UNA functionaries said the nurses are being paid pathetically low wages, and their salaries must be raised urgently.Health minister K Muraleedharan had stated earlier that the govt has a sympathetic view on the demands of the agitating nurses. He had also assured that the govt would soon come up with its own stand on the issue and hoped the management and nurses would find a consensus on wages based on the govt’s announcement. The nurses are now pinning their hopes on the minister’s assurance.