Swazi Media Commentary (Gaborone)

Swaziland: Nurses Join Public Sector Strike

17 July 2012
Photo: Derek Hansen/Flickr
Lured by better salaries and working conditions, many nurses accept jobs in neighbouring South Africa or further afield.

Nurses are to join teachers and civil servants in the growing public sector strike in Swaziland.

They will strike from tomorrow (18 July 2012) in pursuit of a 4.5 percent salary increase.

Teachers have been on indefinite strike for nearly a month and civil servants joined them last week.

Members of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) are expected to strike for two days and then review the situation.

Swaziland has been in turmoil in recent weeks as police on several occasions attacked peacefully protesting strikers, using rubber bullets, teargas and batons. The rough handling by the police has been condemned by trade unionists across the world.

Nurses said they would to join the strike, but they are undecided about whether to hold a public protest. Some said they feared attacks from police if they did so.

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