23 Jul 2007

Fiji nurses reiterate determination to strike from tomorrow night unless demands are met

3:50 pm on 23 July 2007

The Fiji Nurses Association says it's not backing down with its plans to go on strike tomorrow night.

The FNA is asking for the restoration of a five percent pay cut and the retirement age to remain at 60, instead of 55.

The Minister for Public Services, Poseci Bune, will present some of the union's demands to cabinet tomorrow.

The general secretary of the FNA, Kuini Lutua, says if the union is not satisfied with the administrations counter offer, its members will walk off the job at midnight tomorrow.

"We've got more than 1400 nurses out of the one thousand six hundred and I think twenty six nurses that are in Fiji at the moment. And we're expecting all our members to stand down, to walk out tomorrow midnight. Therefore they will have to close alot of health centres and nurses stations."

Kuini Lutua says the interim-administrations plans to have student nurses step in as replacements is illogical as they don't have the required training to be able to work on their own.