PSUNU to boycott strike

Nadira Gunatilleke

The Public Service United Nurses' Union (PSUNU) will not take part in the strike to be launched on September 30 by certain trade unions.

PSUNU members will not support the trade union action, PSUNU President Ven.Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera said. Ven.Ananda Thera said the union will suspend the membership of its members who take part in this strike without PSUNU approval. The strike organizers' intention is to launch a political conspiracy using nurses. They are trying to mislead the nurses, and tarnish the image of the service.

According to Ven.Ananda Thera, salary anomalies of nurses had been inquired by a special committee and its report is with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The matter will be solved soon. The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has not made arrangements to cut down nurses' rights or benefits and already advised to set up `Nurses Council'. The PSUNU will not let prune nurses rights and the benefits they receive.

"It is the PSUNU that won all demands for nurses and no other trade union did it. They put innocent patients in danger. Such trade unions will end up in the dustbin," the Thera said.