Update: Local nurses support protest at children's hospital in Warsaw
PR dla Zagranicy
Alicja Baczyńska
05.06.2016 10:59
Nurses from Mazovia province are organizing a demonstration outside Warsaw's Children's Memorial Health Institute on Sunday in support of a staff protest at the hospital.
Photo: PAP/Rafał Guz
The head of the strike, Magdalena Nasiłowska, said that the decision to stage the demonstration was taken without any encouragement from the facility's staff.
The rally comes as nurses at the healthcare facility sat down for another round of talks with managers on Sunday afternoon. Thirteen days into a protest, the two sides discussed pay and work conditions at one of the largest specialist paediatric hospitals in Poland. The talks, however, ended with no breakthrough and will be continued on Monday.
On Saturday, the institute's nurses appealed to Prime Minister Beata Szydło to help resolve the ongoing conflict with hospital executives.
However, government spokesman Rafał Bochenek said that Szydło would not be engaging in negotiations so as not to "add a political dimension to the developments at the Children's Memorial Health Institute."
Nurses at the hospital have been protesting for nearly two weeks, demanding higher pay and an increase in staff numbers.
The hospital authorities warn that a further strike may lead to the facility closing and indicate that so far the nurses' protest has generated losses reaching PLN 5.5 mln (EUR 1.25 mln). Executives claim that the maximum pay rise they can offer is PLN 250 (EUR 67) a month. Nurses have called for twice that amount. (aba/pk)
Source: IAR, PAP