Moses Kuria, the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Performance, and Delivery Management, has announced that his ministry will take charge of negotiating all Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with professional workers’ unions across the country from now on.
This decision comes amidst an ongoing doctors’ strike over a CBA signed in 2017, which has resulted in a stalemate between the government and the doctors, with no resolution in sight.
According to CS Kuria, some of the demands made by the doctors, such as setting the salary for medical interns at Ksh.206,000 as outlined in the existing CBA, are deemed unreasonable.
“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,” CS Kuria stated.
Kuria argued that acceding to such demands would likely prompt other professional unions to come forward with similarly unrealistic requests, potentially leading to chaos in the country. Therefore, centralizing the negotiation process for all CBAs under one authority is seen as a way to instill order.
“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,” he added.
