JOHESU TO EMBARK ON NATIONWIDE STRIKE FROM MIDNIGHT SUNDAY

Health workers under the auspices of Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU has declared a nationwide strike over hazard allowance and non-payment of withheld salaries of their members among others.

JOHESU, in a statement on Sunday, has told its members to withdraw services from midnight of Sunday, September 13, 2020, since nothing concrete was achieved at the meeting with the Federal Government.

According to the statement, leaders of various health unions in the sector unanimously reached the decision at the end of their expanded National Executive Council.

“In the light of the above, the meeting of our expanded NEC was held Saturday 12 September 2020. And at the end of the meeting, which was held both physically and virtually, it was unanimously agreed that since nothing concrete was achieved at the said meeting with the Federal Government, that the strike notice is still germane and alive.

“Therefore, the 15-day ultimatum still subsists and with effect from midnight of Sunday, 13th September, 2020 our members shall withdraw their services due to Federal Government’s inability to meet their demands,” the statement added.

The health workers had in a letter dated August, 30th, addressed to the Federal Ministry of Health, FMOH, issued a 15- day ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet their demands.

The demands of the aggrieved workers include; the review of the defective implementation of COVID-19 Special Inducement and Hazard Allowance; the payment of all withheld salaries of JOHESU members, including the withheld April and May 2018 salaries; and the adjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) as was done with Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) since 2014.

Others listed in the letter with the reference number HQ/JOHESU/ADM/FMoH/VOL.II/55 are the implementation of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (ADR) Consent judgment and other court judgments as well as the call to address the structural and infrastructural decay in the health sector.

GERMANY ANNOUNCES Ban ON SINGLE-USE PLASTIC PRODUCTS

Germany has finally announced a nationwide ban on single-use plastic products. 

In March 2019, the European Parliament approved a law that would ban the use of single-use plastics all across the European Union, sparking the ‘Single-Use Plastics Directive’, intended to reduce critical waste and pollution in member states.

In line with this mission, this week the German Cabinet announced that single-use plastic cutlery, plates, plastic straws, cotton bud sticks, oxo-degradable plastics, food containers, polystyrene cups and plastic balloon sticks would be prohibited in the country from July 3, 2021.

Environment minister Svenja Schulze said the announcement was part of a government effort to move away from ‘throw-away culture’, The Independent reports. For context, around 20% of the rubbish collected across Germany is made up single-use plastic products, such as polystyrene containers.

The directive recognises that single-use plastics have become ‘increasingly ubiquitous in everyday life’ for purposes ‘which are not designed for re-use or cost-effective recycling, means that related production and consumption patterns have become increasingly inefficient and linear’.

Schulze added, as per DW, ‘many single-use plastic products are superfluous and non-sustainable use of resources’ and ‘in addition, plastics end too often in the environment or in the oceans’. According to Federal Environmental Agency research, Germany amassed 18.7 million tons of packaging waste in 2017.

While more than 80% of all marine litter is made up of plastic products, single-use plastics represent about 70% of all rubbish found in the ocean. ‘With today’s cabinet decision, we are taking an important national step in the fight against the plastic flood,’ Schulze said.

The UK’s ban on single-use plastics was originally planned to come into place in April this year, however it was pushed back six months due to the current pandemic. As well as the unavoidable use of single-use personal protective equipment, which has already been found in the sea, the UK’s Foodservice Packaging Association also reported ‘huge demand’ for cups and cutlery.

While a number of restaurants will be reverting to single-use plastics upon reopening tomorrow, July 4, solid hygiene measures on reusable items are just as effective.

PA Images

Louise Edge, senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK, told WIRED: ‘Experts are telling us that when it comes to buying food and drinks, plastic packaging doesn’t offer any special protection – and reusable cups, bottles and containers are perfectly safe to use, as long as they are washed properly and social distancing is observed.’

Edge added: ‘Companies and governments still need to step up and shift us away from using plastic for throwaway items like food and drink packaging. They can ensure plastic is only used for essential items – like medical kit – and that it is captured and reused at the end of its life. That’s the only way we will stop this contamination of our environment.’

The directive is set to reduce the EU’s environmental damage bill by €22 billion, the estimated cost of plastic pollution across Europe until 2030.