The country’s National Organization of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi (NONM) has weighed in its support towards the planned nationwide strike organized by the Civil Servants Trade Union and Teachers union of Malawi (TUM).
CSTU and TUM announced that they will hold nationwide strike if government fails to address their salary increment demands attributing high cost of living as sanctioned by economic woes rocking the country.
NONM’s president Shouts Simeza told the press that they have decided to endorse the strike because the majority of its members are civil servants.
However, Simeza has pointed out that they may not joint the actual strike because they were not part of the negotiation process between the two sides which led to the strike, until the organization defines the legality of the same.
Malawi Health Equity Network, executive director George Jobe, observes that the timing is bad in the wake of the cholera outbreak.
He says there might be preventable deaths, if the in-demand health personnel down tools. He however, hopes, it doesn’t have to get to that.
The Physician Assistants Union of Malawi (PAUM) also endorsed the strike saying that the challenges faced by civil servants should be treated as a matter of urgency.
Today, government is scheduled to meet civil servants representatives to discuss the matter at Kumbali Lodge in the capital Lilongwe.
