Union officials in talks with gov't over civil servants' strike

Trade union officials in Kenya said on Monday they were consulting with the government following the announcement of the dismissal of at least 9,000 civil servants taking part in a nationwide strike to demand better pay. "The strike is still on, but we are consulting to see how the matter can be resolved without anybody being victimised," Alphayo Nyakundi, the secretary-general of the Union of Kenya Civil Servants, told IRIN. "Nothing has been resolved yet - nobody would be sacked because it would be illegal to do so," he added. The countrywide strike started on 2 June, but most of the 120,000 civil servants ignored the call, making it easier for the government to identify for dismissal those taking part in it. The striking workers had originally demanded a 600 percent pay rise for the civil service, but the union has since said it would be willing to accept an increase of 300 percent. Labour minister Newton Kulundu and the minister in charge of the civil service, William ole Ntimama, announced on Friday that all civil servants who had taken part in what they described as an "illegal" strike would be laid off. Those sacked were due to start receiving their letters of dismissal on Monday. In a related development, the ministry of health published on Monday names of 384 nurses hired to replace those on strike. The ministry was one of the worst affected, with local newspapers attributing a number of deaths in some hospitals to lack of medical personnel. The Kenyan civil service is widely seen as bloated, but underpaid. According to local media reports, the government is expected to implement a donor-funded programme to retrench 21,000 staff in the near future, to cut costs and make the service more efficient. The new, leaner service would be better remunerated, according to the plan.