The nurses ended their labor sanctions after one day, after the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and Ministry of Finance last night reached agreement to add 190 new nursing positions at internal wards.
Earlier yesterday, Ministry of Finance officials admitted that the nurses' demand for more positions was justified, but the officials also complained that the nurses launched sanctions while negotiations were still underway, at the height of a flu outbreak, and without first declaring a labor dispute.
Israel has one of the lowest proportion of nurses among OECD states, at 5.7 per 1,000 people, compared with the OECD average of 9.6 per 1,000 people and 32 nurses per 1,000 people in Norway.
The National Nurses Union, headed by Ilana Cohen, hopes that the new positions will gradually reduce overcrowding in hospitals. However, Ministry of Finance officials said that Israel has a severe shortage of nurses, so that the extra positions might not be filled soon. The shortage of nurses is due to the difficult and demanding nature of the profession, combined with inadequate compensation.
The Ministry of Finance strongly objected to the nurses' demands to limit quotas in hospitals, because patients who are not in critical condition would not be received if a particular occupancy rate is exceeded. The Ministry of Finance said that this was unethical and irresponsible towards patients. It added that it was prepared to do whatever necessary to redirect patients from overcrowded hospitals, and to find other solutions.
Now that the nurses have had their demands met, the doctors are next. The Israel Medical Association and the Ministry of Finance recently opened talks on a new labor agreement. The doctors are demanding more positions, incentives for specialists and for doctors in the periphery, as well as higher pay for all doctors.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 20, 2011
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