Livingstonia Synod resolves college strike
Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) has resolved a strike that paralysed operations at its College of Health Sciences at Ekwendeni in Mzimba for over a month.
Employees at the college went on strike demanding better working conditions, a development that forced officials to close the school until the grievances were resolved.
The staff members petitioned the synod to look into their grievances.
Following the petition, the synod executive met last week to look into the issues.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, Livingstonia Synod general secretary the Reverend Levi Nyondo said the strike has been resolved following the meeting.
He said the most key issue was salary increment as staff were demanding a 40 percent hike after noting that their colleagues in similar institutions were getting more.
Nyondo said the synod appreciated their concerns and assured that it will look into the issues being raised.
He said: “There were a number of things that they wanted to be reviewed but the key one was the salary. We will look into their problems, but for the salary we will have to engage Cham [Christian Health Association of Malawi].”
Ekwendeni College of Health Sciences principal Esau Kasunda commended the parties for resolving the issue, saying the strike heavily affected the school. He said the strike is now a learning point that some of the issues should not be taken lightly.
However, Kasunda said it will be hard for the college to make up for the time lost. He said the period that the strike had taken was too long and a number of plans had been affected. n
