Talks with Pavithra on allowance hike failBy Dinitha RathnayakeMembers of the non-medical health trade unions are to conduct a five hour strike at island-wide hospitals today (11) following the failure of talks held with Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi regarding an increase in the allowance of non-medical health staff. The strike will be against the Health Ministry’s purported duplicitous policy of increasing only the allowances of medical health staff, specifically doctors, and recommending the provision of an additional service allowance only to medical staff. “Our trade union action is against the attempt to divide the commitment of the entire health staff and over neglecting the commitment of the non medical health staff by the medical administration in collaboration with Wanniarachchi. The health authorities are only concerned about the medical staff and their family members. “There are around 150,000 health staff and the Health Ministry has to treat them equally without trying to create divisions between the service categories.

Source: The Nation June 10, 2021 19:05 UTC