The Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ) has criticised the actions of two nurses' groups that split from the organisation last year and sought representation by the National Workers' Union (NWU).

NAJ President Edith Allwood-Anderson has accused the NWU of member-swiping, claiming the union has no right to represent the groups.

The two groups - the Jamaica Association of Nurse Practitioners and the Jamaica Association of Nurse Anaes-thetists (JANA) - severed ties with the NAJ last year following a dispute with the organisation.

Both nurses' groups have been claiming they have not been fairly represented by the NAJ.

There was also a claim earlier this year that the organisation had unfairly scored the groups during the reclassification exercise and that they were not being fairly represented by the association.

But the NAJ president has argued that there is no truth to claims that the NAJ had not been negotiating for the two groups.

Naj's denials

Allwood-Anderson said there is no reason for the groups to claim they were demoted by the NAJ during its attempt to reclassify the nurses groups under its umbrella.

"We even scored them higher than what the ministry itself had scored them," Allwood-Anderson said.

She said the NAJ has been questioning, however, why nurse anaesthetists have been receiving better standby and on-call duty allowances than other nurses for the last three years.

"They are investigating the North East (Regional Health Authority) and I hope the Southern Region, the Western Region and the South East Region will be investigated by the Public Accounts Commi-ttee," Allwood-Anderson told The Gleaner. "So that it can be brought to the attention of what they are doing with regard to the implementation of contracts."

According to Allwood-Anderson, the nurses have been receiving significantly more than other nurses as a result.

"Those are the reasons why they don't want to be members of the association - some of them - so I want it investigated for the public to know," she alleged.

"Government says they don't have any money to pay salaries last month and yet they are giving millions of dollars to persons who they did not authorise in the Ministry of Finance and then they are making me out to be a villain," she continued.

Allwood-Anderson claims the Ministry of Finance has admitted that the contract was being implemented wrongly and it promised a meeting to address the issue, but the nurses have continued to receive the payments.

Allowances inadequate

But JANA's union representative, Howard Duncan, has countered the claim. He said nurse anaesthetists are not receiving better allowances than other nurses and were, in fact, not even receiving the full payments due to them under the contract. They have sought the intervention of the Ministry of Labour.

"You cannot be a representative of the worker and then, in the same breath, that which we have negotiated for you are trying to renegotiate behind their back for it to be rescinded," Duncan jabbed at the NAJ.

"It doesn't matter who negotiated it, it was what was negotiated and for what category and something was negotiated for the nurse anaesthetists and I making sure that it goes as exactly as was negotiated, " Duncan said.

Allwood-Anderson insisted, however, that only the NAJ has negotiating rights to bargain on behalf of the nursing groups and it has had those rights since 1973.

"The NWU has written that they are representing them, but they are professional nurses and they are under the Nursing and Midwives Act," she said.

But Duncan rubbished those arguments, saying under law, the nurses have a right to choose which organisation they want to represent them.

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com