BAHAMAS Nurses Union president Amancha Williams confirmed to The Tribune that the union received a strike certificate yesterday.

“At this present time, the nurses union has no plans to strike. We are in negotiation right now with PHA and the Department of Health. We wait to hear from them, we haven’t heard from them as yet,” she told The Tribune.

“Please be reminded if we see that it’s not going in the favour that we want it to go we will utilise our strike certificate, but we will do that on our terms - on nobody else’s terms but the Bahamas Nurses Union and its members.”

 Issuing of the strike certificate came after the majority of nurses who voted in a poll earlier this month cast ballots in favour of industrial action.

 Heath and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville has said a negotiating team has been given the mandate to bring resolution to the BNU’s grievances as soon as possible.

 The minister told reporters the nurses have many concerns - some associated with the state of infrastructure at some clinics and hospitals. He said there is a budgetary allocation in the 2022/2023 budget to address many of the concerns.

 “As far as union contracts are concerned, they are at the table. We have our consultant negotiation who’s working very closely with the nurses union and we will stay at the table because it’s important for us to ensure that many of these long standing issues are sorted so that our nurses can be in a proper environment and some of the issues as it relates to promotions are being addressed,” he said.

“All of these things are things that I met when I came to the office and it is my responsibility to work with the unions. Not only the nurses union, with the junior doctors union as well as the consultants union to make sure that we have our professional staff satisfied with being able to do what they need to do at institutions.”