Public Service, Performance and Delivery Management Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has now stated that his ministry will be in charge of negotiating all Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with all professional workers' unions in the country going forward.
This comes amid a month-long doctors' strike over a CBA signed in 2017, resulting in a push-and-pull with the government with no end in sight.
According to CS Kuria, some of the doctors' demands, such as medical intern salaries capped at Ksh.206,000 as stipulated in the CBA, are unreasonable.
He stated that if the government agrees to such demands, it will only be a matter of time before another professional workers' union makes similar unrealistic demands.
This, he hinted, will lead to anarchy in the country, necessitating the centralization of all CBA negotiations under one roof to create order.
“Going forward, only my ministry is going to be in charge of negotiating CBAs because we’re the HR experts of the government of the Republic of Kenya...so that we can have semblance of some order. Because if you look at the issues we’re facing today like salaries for interns...first of all, how can an intern have a salary? It’s a stipend, it’s not a salary,” he stated during a press address on Friday.
“Because today we will deal with doctors today, tomorrow UASU, then teachers, again Vets...we need to centralize all CBAs...I am inviting the doctors to consider the health of patients and their families and the health of the economy.”
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