Nurses end strike amid promise of nationwide raise
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
21.06.2015 12:33
Nurses at a hospital in Wyszków, central Poland, have returned to work after a strike that began on Monday ended with promises from the government.
Jadwiga Pyt (C), President of Poland's Union of Anaesthesiological Nurses,following the conclusion of talks of Sunday morning. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Minister of Health Marian Zembala, who took part in the breakthrough talks on Saturday and Sunday morning, pledged that wages would be increased for nurses and midwives across the entire country.
Nurses had gone on strike on Monday, calling for higher wages and a better organised work rota.
The Wyszków protest followed on from threats in May that a nationwide nurses strike would be launched in September.
Besides arguing that they are underpaid, nurses have called for a ruling on the minimum number of nurses that can be on duty on a ward, as well as a reduction in the number of non-medical duties they sometimes have to perform.
Leader of the Wyszków strike Jadwiga Pyt, President of Poland's Union of Anaesthesiological Nurses welcomed the breakthrough.
“What the minister suggested will, I hope, raise the Polish nurse from his knees, our earnings are really embarrassingly low in relation to ourresponsibilities,” she told national broadcaster TVP. (nh)
Source: PAP