Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, August 9, 2007 The nurses will have to
inform the Labour Ministry on their decision to call of the strike when
they plan to resume work. Public Service Minister Poseci Bune said his
ministry will only be adviced once the Labour Ministry has been
informed. While Bune is relieved that the nurses will return to work he
feels the nurses passed aside a good deal by going on strike. “They
should regret this because they have not won anything and in fact they
have lost a great deal in terms of improving the conditions of service
for the nurses. I say this because in place of the one per cent that
Lutua was demanding from the government to be paid from August in
addition to the one per cent we have previously agreed to I offered
instead 60 new posts of junior sisters. This would have created a lot
of opportunities and the salary would have met 5-12 per cent of the
salaries of the nurses. More than the one per cent she was demanding.
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