The federal administration is reconsidering its agreement with the Joint Health Sector Unions and the Assembly of Healthcare Professionals (JOHESU).
Mr Simon Lalong, Minister of Labour and Employment, announced this on Thursday at a meeting with members of JOHESU chaired by Mr Olumide Akintayo at his Abuja office.
“I want to assure JOHESU that the ministry would do the needful, and deploy every necessary effort to see to the amicable and satisfactory resolution of the issues,” he said.
Earlier, the team’s leader, Mr Olumide Akintayo, stated that they had arrived at the ministry to properly congratulate the minister.
Akintayo also stated that the visit was intended to gain the minister’s understanding and support for the implementation of many agreements signed between them and the federal government.
He did emphasize, however, that one of the key difficulties was the lack of compensation adjustment for health employees under the Consolidated Health compensation Structure (CONHESS), which had not been implemented since it was authorized.
He encouraged the minister, as Chief Conciliator, to initiate prompt action by the Presidential Committee on Salaries, which has the authority to press for its execution.
He assured the minister that JOHESU was not interested in using strikes to achieve its aims but would rather explore the processes of negotiation to maintain industrial harmony.
After a meeting with JOHESU on September 8, 2021, former Labour Minister Chris Ngige stated that both parties had reached an agreement on all issues in dispute, including the hazard allowance, the review of the retirement age from 60 to 65 years, and arrears relating to the adjustment on the new national minimum wage.
He went on to say that an agreement had been reached on the upward adjustment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS), as had been done with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
“Based on previous discussion, we delivered to them (JOHESU) the financial implication of what is due to them and they promised to get back to their members and report back to us,” the minister said.