Strategies for curbing strike action by nurses in public institutions, South Africa

Abstract

The healthcare strike action that rocked South Africa in 2007 and 2010 highlighted the trend of professional nurses towards exercising their rights as employees to embark on strike actions, often also in solidarity with other categories of employees. This study aimed to highlight the problem brought about by the lack of proactive strategies to maintain a balance between human and professional rights and responsibilities of nurses within the legal framework of South Africa. The theoretical grounding of the study included both organisational change models and transformational leadership models. A descriptive and analytic design was followed, using both qualitative and quantitative non-probability sampling approaches to meet the research objectives of determining factors for nurses‘ involvement in strikes and their impact. Eighty professional nurses were included as the total sample of the study with 53 that did not participate in strike action and 27 that participated in strike action. A sample of eleven nurse managers was also included in the study to determine their views on strikes by nurses and their understanding of the changing work environment. To determine the overall impact of the nurses‘ strike, 40 healthcare consumers were included. The sample was selected from four provinces: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal; Western Cape and Gauteng. The study was limited to professional nurses, nurse managers within the public-health sector and healthcare consumers using public-health facilities. The findings and the relevant literature referred to in this study indicate that though there are different reasons for strike action in the public-health sector by area or by country, remuneration is undoubtedly the most mentioned reason. Important to note is that salary per se is not the most critical actor but it is a tangible measure of the value that the employer places on people. In the absence of other incentives in the nursing environment, it becomes the focal point. However, addressing salary issues alone will not prevent strike action in the public-health sector