End this rigidity and pay doctors their dues

The decision by county governors to hold back doctors’ salaries for the period they were on strike is unfortunate and ill-advised. Not only is their decision unfair given that it goes against the spirit of the return-to-work formula that was hammered out after the intervention of the Court of Appeal, it also muddies the waters in this already poisoned environment that has soured worker-employee relations.

Under the 2010 constitutional dispensation it is county governments that employ doctors in public hospitals. However, after a dispute over the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), physicians downed their tools for 100 days, but after protracted negotiations, they agreed to call off the strike. But now counties are desperately trying to sell the argument that physicians do not deserve to be paid because they did not work during the three months they were on strike.