Hopes were dashed for an early end to the strike by 11,000 hospital nurses after a six-hour meeting between strikers’ representatives and officials of the Health and Finance ministries and Histadrut’s trade unions department broke up in deadlock Sunday.
The strike which began on June 23 entered its third week Monday. The nurses rejected compromise proposals by Premier Shimon Peres over the weekend and demanded that Peres meet with them directly. Sunday’s meeting between the strikers and the relevant ministry officials, which was arranged by Histadrut, ended with walk-outs by both sides.
The nurses reportedly rejected six different compromise proposals. The government says it is ready to negotiate the strikers’ demands for enlarged nursing staffs and better working conditions. But it will not consider wage demands on grounds that they are inconsistent with the national wage guidelines.
The strike has crippled health care services throughout Israel. All but critically ill patients and emergency cases have been sent home. The situation at the hospitals worsened Monday when administrative, clerical and technical staffs called a 24-hour work stoppage to support demands for higher salaries.
Meanwhile, doctors at two major hospitals will hold a one-hour strike Tuesday to protest what they say is the “apparent disinterest of the government and the employers in solving the problem.” Doctors have been standing in for the absent nurses for the past two weeks. They have warned they cannot long continue doing double duty.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
