RNMU recently had the opportunity to conduct a successful leadership and labour rights training programme for our shop stewards. Reinforcing our vision of empowering our members to be motivated to provide high-quality services and uphold professional excellence.
Our training programme focused on deepening the understanding of the roles and responsibilities of an RNMU shop steward, as presented by the Secretary-General, Mr. Gerard Rurangwa. The participants were given a brief view of how the placement of shop stewards in hospitals and districts is done and the different ways RNMU helps the assigned people carry out their assigned roles.
The presentation also included a debriefing on how being a member gives you the right to legal representation in case a member is unable to get one themselves, all while working hand in hand with our RNMU team to provide the best support during such times, also mentioning the issue of excessive workload and unfair working hours, where the shop stewards were expressive on what they have done to fix this and the help they would like to receive in solving this problem.
It was concluded with a Q&A session, where participants were free to ask any questions they had, and they were answered collectively by the Secretary-General and the other participants working together to reach a common understanding.
Furthermore, labour consultant Mr. HOBESS Nkundimana gave an outstanding presentation on different laws that shop stewards should be aware of in their day-to-day jobs to adequately carry out their roles.
Mr. Obess Ndikumana is giving training in labour law to the shop stewards in Gasabo District
Highlighting several laws, such as:
Article 11: Conclusion of an Employment Contract.
Article 20: Suspension of employment contract due to administrative
Investigation by an employer.
Article 21: Suspension of employment contract due to economic or
Technical reasons.
Article 22: Right to be reinstated in employment after being
Dismissed for economic or technical reasons.
Article 24: Termination of an employment contract with notice
Article 26: Termination of employment contract for gross
Misconduct.
Article 67: Means of Salary Payment
Article 73: Seizure and assignment of salary
Article 74: Interests in cases of illegal deductions
Article 19: Occupational accidents or diseases.
Article 7: Caring for Citizens (abagenewe serivisi)
Article 13: Director/Leader. Worker Ethics (Imyitwarire) y’umuyobozi)
Article 30: Dismissal from Work (Kwirukanwa mu Kazi)
Article 33: A government worker serving a jail sentence
And much more as the participants participated and asked questions regarding specific situations they have been in and how to deal with them, deeming it very successful at the end of the presentation as the participants were eager to go through the presentation again and jot down what had caught their attention.
We also had the honour of having the RNMU president interact with the trainees and go through different discussions with them regarding what it is to be a member of RNMU and the importance of being a shop steward to other nurses and midwives. He also mentioned different projects that are being worked on to better the profession of nursing and midwifery, and we had the honour of having Nursing PhD recipient Dr. Madeline Mukeshimana join us in this training.
There was also a presentation by HRM, Office of Human Rights, Kibagabaga Level II Teaching Hospital. The presenting HR talked about the success of horizontal promotion in the area of Gasabo and gave a brief overview of what has been happening in meetings all over the country regarding the rights of workers and RNMU members.
The HR also mentioned different ways his workplace has been incorporating the vision and mission of RNMU during orientation sessions for new workers, which was deemed successful as this method showed that in their hospital only one member was paying.
Several requests were also made to RNMU regarding different issues that were being faced, and they were thankful for the help they have received from RNMU regarding advocacy in disputes between employees and employed and social solidarity cases.
The training was concluded with an election for the new Gasabo Vice Secretary, Ms.Umuhoza Nicole, and Ms. Mukagasana Clementine, who were voted by their peers to be the candidates. Ms. Umuhoza Nicole was voted for the position of Vice Secretary, winning by 8 votes.
