Nurses across the south Indian state of Kerala are on rolling strikes for pay increases against private hospitals which have been unwilling to meet the minimum wage demands of the state. Just as one strike ends (at SH Hospital in Paynkulam) another one begins (at Amrita Insitute of Medical Sciences). In many instances (like at Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College) nurses are winning their demands, in part because of the strength of the unions and in part because of the outpouring of support they are receiving from individuals everywhere. Despite demands of 85% increase in wages, throngs of people rallied in solidarity with the nurses.

The strikes were quite militant, causing hospitals in many instances to close down entirely. Even more astonishing has been the rapid growth of the nurses’ unions. Despite being relatively unorganized, the newly minted United Nurses’ Association has grown remarkably, adding over 400 branches in the first months of 2012. Part of the reason for this is clearly the conditions under which nurses labor. Despite the state’s fixed minimum wage at Rs. 9000, most nurses make barely half of that, and new “trainee” nurses make Rs. 1000 in some conditions.

Here’s how Nissar Adoor describes working conditions for Keralan nurses [see the full article below]:

“Some of the issues faced by the nurses include the following. All hospital management says duty time is only 8 hour, but in reality this hardly the case with most of them made to work beyond the duty time. Most of the hospitals are not providing medical insurance or free health coverage especially given the fact that nurses are more prone to get diseases and infections. Many of the hospitals pay a very low wages, as low as Rs. 1800 a month (which is nowhere near even pathetic the labour minimum wages of around Rs. 6000). While hospitals charge patients anywhere from Rs. 1500-2500 (per day) as nurses fee but nowhere is this reflected in the nurses salary. Private/ corporate hospitals demand bonded contracts, which if broken, nurses are forced to pay more than Rs. 50,000. Even the so called ISO certified hospitals hire untrained nurses thus bringing down the wages of skilled nurses and putting the lives of patients at risk. Male nurses are denied opportunities often because of flimsy reasons, while they cleverly over exploit female nurses by under paying and over-exploiting them. Nurses are punished on flimsiest grounds, cuts in their salary or double duty time are rampant. Besides all these, none of them enjoy any basic rights as workers and are denied trade union rights. Moreover, many nurses are made to endure psychological abuses from the management.”

The strikes in Kerala come on the heels of strikes that happened last year in Delhi, Bombay, and Calcutta, where similar conditions provoked industrial actions in hospitals there.

In February, hospitals demanded that the Kerala state government impose sanctions against nurses using the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) which requires certain necessary jobs continue during industrial disputes. The Kerala state government responded by accusing the hospitals of doctoring the books and misrepresenting nurses’ wages. Local courts, though, did provide hospitals with police to keep the nurses out and to keep operations going in some place.

The main demands of the strikers include:

• Minimum wages
• Extra pay for night shifts
• No overtime without extra pay
• No bonded labor
• Ending the use of student nurses as free labor

The most puzzling part of the story has been the support from parties across the political spectrum. The CPI and CPM are not big surprises, nor are the Congress and the Congress-led INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress). But somewhat surprising are the BJP and the Shiv Sena, who declared hartals in support of the nurses. My best guess is that the massive popularity of the issue has meant that everyone has jumped on the bandwagon (though luckily this means that the nurses are likely to move from success to success even if this muddies the political waters in the long-term).

New Red Indian

* http://newredindian.wordpress.com/

Life of Nurses in India is a cursed one

The following article is written by Nissar Adoor, a male nurse working in a corporate hospital in Delhi and relates to the recent upsurge in nurses protest in the mainly corporate/ private run hospitals. Inspired by the events like the Arab spring in the Middle East and Occupy Movements, nurses working in many corporate/ pvt. hospitals in India often under highly exploitative conditions, decided that enough was enough.

Led by the United Nurses Association (UNA), a Facebook group formed in October 2011, boosting a membership of more than 164,000 members today, the UNA has been in the forefront of many strikes in Kerala and also in solidarity actions with their co-nurse workers in other parts of India. This speaks volumes of the utter failure of the Stalinist parties led Trade Unions like CITU, AITUC who have failed to organise one of the key sectors of the working class.

Editors
socialism.in

Life of Nurses in India is a cursed one

Recently there have been reports of growing number of nurses strike in many private/ corporate hospitals in parts of urban India. Especially in Kerala this is not just a strike for better wages but also a strike against gross violation of labour laws of the land and lack of trade union rights. Nurses working in these private/ corporate hospitals, many of them hailing from Kerala, face extreme form of exploitation in these hospitals.

Nurses are super exploited

Some of the issues faced by the nurses include the following. All hospital management says duty time is only 8 hour, but in reality this hardly the case with most of them made to work beyond the duty time. Most of the hospitals are not providing medical insurance or free health coverage especially given the fact that nurses are more prone to get diseases and infections. Many of the hospitals pay a very low wages, as low as Rs. 1800 a month (which is nowhere near even pathetic the labour minimum wages of around Rs. 6000). While hospitals charge patients anywhere from Rs. 1500-2500 (per day) as nurses fee but nowhere is this reflected in the nurses salary. Private/ corporate hospitals demand bonded contracts, which if broken, nurses are forced to pay more than Rs. 50,000. Even the so called ISO certified hospitals hire untrained nurses thus bringing down the wages of skilled nurses and putting the lives of patients at risk. Male nurses are denied opportunities often because of flimsy reasons, while they cleverly over exploit female nurses by under paying and over-exploiting them. Nurses are punished on flimsiest grounds, cuts in their salary or double duty time are rampant. Besides all these, none of them enjoy any basic rights as workers and are denied trade union rights. Moreover, many nurses are made to endure psychological abuses from the management.

Added to all these is the heavy educational fees that many undergraduate nurses pay private nursing college, which costs more than Rs. 3 lakh thus getting them indebted, many of them borrow bank loans and find it extremely hard to pay back because of low salaries. And because of the better job opportunities, many nurses are forced to relocate to bigger cities of India thus only adding to more costs and further indebtedness.

It is time that the nursing fraternity organises itself to fight for:

*Trade Union rights for all the nurses

*Standardised Wages at-least according to the minimum wages fixed by the Government. Wages to be revised and adjusted to the cost of living, with mandatory yearly increments

*Open the books of the hospital managements to calculate the commensurate wages according to the wind fall of profits they grab.

*8 hr working day, overtime allowances, yearly leave and all other better working conditions.

*Standardise and increase the nurse–patient ratio

*Health coverage for all nurses to be borne by the hospital managements.

*Job opportunities to be made available to male nurses in hospitals.

*Lobby and force the Central Trade Unions to pro-actively intervene in the struggles of the Nurses and other hospital staff and organise them.

Nissar Adoor
Delhi

* http://socialism.in/?p=2247