More than 11,000 administrative and maintenance workers at government hospitals went on strike Monday in defiance of a Jerusalem labor court’s back-to-work orders. The strike leaders, facing contempt of court citations, declared they were ready to go to jail in their struggle for better wages.
Four leaders of the strike committee were escorted by police from their Tel Hashomer Hospital strike headquarters to the court Monday afternoon for a mandatory appearance. They went without protest, followed by representatives of other hospital workers’ groups in a show of solidarity.
The strike has hit 26 general, psychiatric and geriatric state hospitals, which were forced to operate on a Sabbath emergency schedule Monday. Elective surgery was cancelled, and as many patients as possible were sent home.
The strike was the second in less than a week to paralyze government hospitals in Israel. Physicians staged a 24-hour “warning strike,” which ended last Friday, to protest cuts in the medical staff. A strike by 9,000 administrative and maintenance personnel at Histadrut’s Kupat Holim hospitals also ended a strike last week after an emotional radio appeal by President Chaim Herzog.
But their government hospital counterparts say they intend to remain off the job until their wages are raised to the same level as the Kupat Holim hospital staffs. A government committee upheld their demands after studying the issue and the Treasury promised to comply.
But the workers charged the government was “dragging its feet,” They said they will no longer work for wages barely above the national minimum. The Treasury claims they are in fact receiving higher pay.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Shoshana Arbelli-Almoslino said the Finance Ministry fails to appreciate the disastrous plight of the country’s hospital and health services. She said she is not asking for a bigger health budget, but protesting new cuts demanded by the Treasury.
The Health Minister pointed out that while the population has increased by about eight percent in the last six years, there has been no increase in the budget to provide for the larger number of people requiring hospitalization and other medical services.
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