Health workers mobilise for showdown with FG over 13-yr salary adjustment delay

JOHESU is the Joint Health Sector Unions, a coalition representing organised health workers in Nigeria. It speaks for members across federal and state health institutions. This matters because its decisions can affect staffing, negotiations and industrial action across many public healthcare workplaces.

The coalition includes the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, MHWUN; the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, NUAHP; the Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions, SSAUTHRIAI; and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU. NASU includes AHPA, its technical arm, the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations.

JOHESU placed its members on alert over the unresolved CONHESS adjustment. It directed nationwide mobilisation for possible industrial action, while urging members to remain peaceful and await further instructions from the NLC and TUC. Its broad membership gives the dispute national significance.

CONHESS means the Consolidated Health Salary Structure. It is the salary framework named in the dispute between JOHESU and the Federal Government. A CONHESS adjustment means changing the pay arrangements under that framework, although the article does not state the proposed rates, percentages or amounts.

The demand matters because JOHESU describes it as unresolved for about 13 years. President Bola Tinubu promised on June 5, 2023, to actualise the adjustment while asking JOHESU to suspend its strike. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare then forwarded a technical committee report to the Budget Office of the Federation.

The process has not produced implementation. JOHESU says the Presidential Committee on Salaries has not met and warns that further delay will bring resistance. It has therefore put members on alert and begun mobilisation for possible industrial action, while asking them to remain peaceful.

JOHESU says the CONHESS adjustment has remained unresolved for about 13 years. That long delay is why the union calls it the oldest demand in organised labour history and says it will no longer accept further postponement. The dispute concerns implementing an adjustment to the health-sector salary structure.

Several steps have already occurred. On June 5, 2023, President Bola Tinubu promised to actualise the adjustment and appealed to JOHESU to suspend its strike. On the same date, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare forwarded the 2021 High Level Body Technical Committee Report to the Budget Office of the Federation, which serves as the secretariat of the Presidential Committee on Salaries.

However, JOHESU says the process stalled because the Presidential Committee on Salaries could not meet. The union warns that it will resist any further attempt to use that failure as an excuse and has begun nationwide mobilisation for possible industrial action.

JOHESU says the salary-adjustment process stalled because the Presidential Committee on Salaries, or PCS, has been unable to meet. The union rejects any further reliance on that failure as an excuse. Its objection matters because the unresolved administrative step has kept a demand dating back about 13 years from reaching implementation.

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare forwarded the 2021 High Level Body Technical Committee Report to the Budget Office of the Federation on June 5, 2023. The article identifies the Budget Office as the secretariat of the Presidential Committee on Salaries. This means it received and supports the committee process, while the PCS is the forum JOHESU says has failed to act.

The article does not describe the PCS’s full legal mandate or give a detailed approval timetable. It does show the practical consequence: JOHESU has placed members on alert, begun mobilisation and threatened resistance if the government continues delaying the adjustment.

If JOHESU members begin industrial action, hospitals and other health institutions could experience staffing disruptions. In general, strikes by healthcare workers may delay appointments, procedures, tests and routine services, while urgent-care systems face extra pressure. These possible effects are established general consequences, not specific forecasts in the article.

The article reports that JOHESU has placed members on alert and directed mobilisation across health institutions nationwide. It is preparing what it calls necessary resistance over the CONHESS adjustment. The union has not announced that a strike has already begun. Instead, it told members to remain peaceful and await further directives from the NLC and TUC.

The immediate issue is therefore a possible escalation, not a confirmed shutdown. The next step depends on the government’s response to the ultimatum and timeline issued by organised labour. If implementation remains blocked, the union’s mobilisation could increase pressure on hospitals, officials and patients.

The article cites the Trade Unions Act, Cap T14, LFN, 2004. It says the law permits trade unions to negotiate benefit packages and collective bargaining agreements on behalf of their members. That legal recognition gives unions a formal basis for representing workers in pay and employment discussions.

Collective bargaining usually means workers, through their union, negotiate with an employer or government representative. The parties may discuss salaries, allowances, working conditions and other benefits. In this dispute, JOHESU reminded the Federal Government of that right while demanding implementation of the CONHESS adjustment.

The law does not automatically guarantee that every union demand will be accepted or immediately implemented. The article instead presents it as a right to negotiate and bargain collectively. JOHESU also commended the NLC and TUC for supporting the adjustment, then placed members on alert after warning that further frustration could lead to resistance.

Public-sector pay is generally shaped by negotiations between worker representatives and government, then expressed through formal salary structures. Governments must also assess affordability and include approved costs in public budgets. This matters because an agreed pay change cannot be fully implemented without an authorised administrative and financial process.

In the article’s example, JOHESU seeks an adjustment to CONHESS. A 2021 High Level Body Technical Committee Report was sent to the Budget Office of the Federation on June 5, 2023. The Budget Office is identified as the secretariat of the Presidential Committee on Salaries. That committee process is the reported mechanism through which the proposal should advance.

The article says implementation has stalled because the committee could not meet. It does not explain the full budget approval procedure, the proposed salary figures or the government’s financial assessment. In general, unresolved negotiations or missing approvals can delay changes, leaving unions to seek progress through further bargaining or industrial action.