Striking Zimbabwe nurses all fired as new government gets tough
The government says unemployed and retired nurses would be hired to replace the fired staff; public-school teachers are also threatening to strike
Harare — Zimbabwe has fired all nurses who were on strike to demand higher salaries, in a hard line response to growing labour arrest by the country’s new leadership. Several thousand nurses were sacked in a terse statement issued on Tuesday evening by vice-president Constantino Chiwenga, who accused the strikers of being "politically motivated". Patients were turned away from major hospitals this week after the nurses began their industrial action, weeks after doctors had ended their own strike. "Government has decided in the interest of patients and of saving lives to discharge all the striking nurses with immediate effect," Chiwenga said in a statement, adding that unemployed and retired nurses would be hired to replace those fired. Chiwenga was the military general who led the ousting of Robert Mugabe in November when the army briefly took control and ushered Emmerson Mnangagwa into the presidency. Chiwenga described the nurses’ strike as "deplorable and reprehensible" as the go...
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