By Wilson Adekumola
Aggrieved members of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idiaraba, have threatened to pull out of the association due to the outrageous deduction of Check-of-Dues (COD) which they say should be from the basic salary, not the total Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS in agreement with its formation.
Nurses Association
The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives is a professional-cum trade union organization recognized by the Trade Union (Amendment) act of 2005.
It is a non-governmental and non-profit organization authorized to organize all professional nurses and midwives who are trained, registered, and licensed to practice the nursing profession at all levels of the healthcare delivery system, namely primary, secondary and tertiary both in public and private sectors in the country. The association is divided into three structures, that is, National, State, and Unit NANNM.
LUTH Nurses: Their grievances
The vice-chairman of the unit branch, Nurse Qazeem Bello who spoke with Church Times on behalf of the association decried the incessant deduction of 3% of their total CONHESS noting that it is affecting them tremendously at the unit level and the members have been opting out of the association and even inciting themselves.
He alleged that the deduction of their total CONHESS is illegal according to the constitution of the association.
He then urged the national leadership to stop the illegal deduction before it gets out of hand. He explained further that the 3% of COD is the amount being accepted and agreed by all the members of NANNM as stated in its legislation to be remitted to the association’s purse for the running of its activities.
Bello disclosed that they have channelled their complaints and demands to the national leadership of the association but nothing has been done to amend the situation up to this time.
The sharing formula is 50 percent of the total COD to the National NANNM while 30 percent is to the State and 20 percent to the unit.
Bello revealed that the bone of contention now is that the gross deduction is from their total remunerations instead of their basic salary in which a single member at the Deputy Director of Nursing cadre remits at least #14,000 plus monthly and compare to their counterpart in the state health sector that pays less than #3,000 monthly.
He, however, appealed to the national body of the union to sit down and calculate its 3 percent of the basic salary henceforth adding that the present deduction has a devastating effect on their take home.
“Majority of the nurses in the institution are fed up with this development and agitated. Many have written letters that they want to withdraw from this association because of the flagrant deduction of their Check-of-Dues.
“It is happening in all the institutions generally in Nigeria. We have written a letter to the State and it has forwarded it to the national but they have not done anything. The constitution says the 3 percent COD should be deducted from the basic salary and not the total CONHESS. I think it has gotten to the extreme. We are reacting now so that action will be taken. Before it gets out of hand, we want the national NANNM to listen to us and respond accordingly.”