Court extends orders barring KMPDU strike in Kirinyaga

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has extended orders suspending a strike by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) in Kirinyaga County pending the hearing of a case filed by the Governor Anne Waiguru-led administration.

The hearing of the application has now been deferred to June 12, 2019.

On Friday, May 24, Justice Maureen Onyango in Nairobi suspended the seven-day strike notice dated May 20, 2019 and set the inter-parties hearing for May 29.

The matter has also been referred to the Nyeri Law Courts.

The health workers are demanding among other issues the reinstatement of over 300 casual workers who were sent home from the county referral hospital in what the county government said was part of cost cutting measures.

However, according to the county government, the county wage bill was unsustainable and was a serious issue that the National Treasury had also raised.

Waiguru defended the move to sack the casuals saying that the hospital was over staffed with 346 casuals compared to the required capacity of 152 casuals.