Quiet talks resume as nurses' strike enters day 11

Treasury restarts negotiations after Tel Aviv Labor Court refuses to grant restraining orders to halt nurses sanctions.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Nurses protest at Emek Yezreel College 370 (photo credit: Hadar Zevulun)
Nurses protest at Emek Yezreel College 370
(photo credit: Hadar Zevulun)
As the Treasury realized from the Tel Aviv Labor Court late Tuesday night that it would not easily get restraining orders to halt the nurses sanctions, now in its 11th day, it began more serious and quiet negotiations.
The Israel Nurses Association headed by Ilana Cohen decided on Wednesday morning to allow Clalit Health Services health fund nurses in the community to work normally for two days, through Thursday, as a show of goodwill.
The sanctions “are not an end but as the only means to reach a solution. I hope that from now, there will be real and intensive negotiations to solve the problem” Cohen said.
The nurses are pushing for a new wage contract with significant salary increases over the contract that is expiring at the end of December.
They also want action taken by the authorities to increase significantly the amount of nursing manpower.