Clinical officers threaten to go on strike

Clinical officers now want the court to compel the registrar of trade unions to allow them to register their own union.

The health workers said that forming their own union would help them push for higher pay, adding that they would go on strike if the government fails to address their grievances.

Speaking at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday, Union of Kenya Clinical Officers (UKCO) Chairman Peterson Wachira said the clinical officers have been deprived of the right of association by being barred from registering their union.

The respondents in the case did not appear during the mention of the case.

Justice Nduma Nderi directed that the matter be heard on the 13th of February 2017.

The members of the proposed Kenya union of clinical officers are working under very challenging conditions including working for 24 hours a day every week because the officers do not have a mechanism for bargaining collectively for suitable terms and conditions of service.

“It is in the interests of justice that the human suffering be ended as soon as possible,” argued the clinical officers, adding that they suffer due to being overworked.