Kenyan nurses demonstrating in the past. [Photo/mymobiledoc]
The Council of Governors (CoG) has maintained that the ongoing nurses strike in counties is illegal.The council said the ruling issued by the Labour Court on September 1, 2017 in cause No 1069 of 2017, John Biiy and Seth Panyako and others, declared the nurses strike illegal.It said the ruling directed the officials of the Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) to call off the strike immediately and refrain from interference with the smooth running healthcare in the country.During a meeting on September 22, CoG reiterated its resolution of August 31, 2017, that all nurses who had not returned to work stand sacked and thereafter, the counties advertise their positions."Kenya Health Professionals, including Clinical Officers strike do not have Recognition Agreements (RAs) with the 47 county governments and the respective industrial actions are illegal," said CoG, in a communication, adding that SRC was mandated to manage civil servants expectations by making public job evaluation and grading reports for all cadres of Public Servants, including the Health Sector and the grading tool used in the exercise."Therefore, the Council of Governors mandated the 47 county governments to deal with their respective employees, who are the nurses and Kenya Health Professionals in resolving the disputes," said the council.