UPTH Workers May Call Off Strike Today

Activities at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) have remained paralysed for the past six days following an indefinite industrial action embarked upon by Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), UPTH branch even as the union said yesterday that it would meet today with a view to calling off the strike action.

This follows the intervention of the federal ministry of Labour, Trade Union Congress and the Nigerian Labour Congress.

The Tide gathered that both JOHESU and UPTH management have after the intervention meeting signed an agreement and the UPTH management has been given three weeks deadline to implement the demands of JOHESU.

Consequent upon this new turn of events, Chairman, JOHESU, Comrade Kristhien Awoibi, in his notice of meeting, directed members to meet today in the hospital by 9 am to review the union’s strike action.

Chairman of JOHESU, UPTH branch, Mr Kristhien Awoibi had told newsmen that the strike action, which began last Thursday was as a result of insensitivity of the hospital’s management to issues of promotions, incorrect salaries and wrongful placement.

He mentioned such issues at 2010 improper stepping of promotions already released, improper designation of status of staff, lower salaries and allowances, among other issues, which he said, the union had on several occasions dialogued and written to the hospital’s management without positive results, a situation, which according to him, forced the union to embark on three-day warning strike.

But earlier, the Chief Medical Director of UPTH, Dr Aaron Ojule had said that these reasons put forward by JOHESU are flinsy, as according to him, hospital management had told the union leadership that, “you don’t put somebody on steps arbitrarily. There are government rules and regulations, and we have followed them.”

Chris Oluoh