Following
through on threats made in the early morning, medical residents across
the country were absent from work Monday morning. The move came as another round of talks with the Finance Ministry failed to make progress over a labor dispute.
Two
weeks ago, the National Labor Court prevented medical residents from
resigning en masse from their hospital posts. The court ordered
residents and the Finance Ministry to engage in intense negotiations in
order to resolve the labor dispute.
RELATED:Residents appeal to High Court after talks fail Residents agree to return to talks with Finance Ministry In
total, over 250 residents stayed home on Monday, creating serious
manpower shortages in emergency rooms throughout the country, Israel
Radio reported.Residents say that only three meetings were held in the past two weeks.
They had sought intensive daily meetings with the Treasury.
Ahead of the current move, the residents kept their plans quiet until
the last minute to avoid a court injunction, Army Radio reported.
The hospital doctors want the labor accord reached with the Israel
Medical Association (IMA) at the end of August to be in effect for less
time than the nine years agreed upon.
They also want better employment conditions, fewer and shorter night and
weekend shifts and higher salaries. Resident employment terms will also
be discussed.
The High Court of Justice announced Sunday that a petition filed by
residents against a National Labor Court ruling preventing their
collective resignations will be heard before a panel of three High Court
justices.
“The limited dialogue that took place did not produce
results,” Justice Hanan Melcer announced late Sunday afternoon, as he
said he would now advance the petition to a hearing before a panel.
Melcer asked for that decision to be brought to the attention of Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (formally health minister), Finance Minister
Yuval Steinitz and Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman.
Justice
Melcer’s decision came after lawyers for both the state and the
residents informed the High Court on Sunday they had failed to move
forward in the negotiations set out by the court October 27.
Last month, thousands of residents staged walkouts from their hospital
jobs before being ordered back to work by the labor court. In addition,
mass protests were held with over 1,000 medical residents and medical
students.
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich and Joanna Paraszczuk contributed to this report.