This was the first of three strikes planned in October. The next will begin October 15, if an agreement has not been reached by then. The strikes come in the wake of the resignations of 96 nurses at the public hospital at the beginning of this month. Another 30 or 40 resignations are expected next month. One nurse, Ragna Ágústsdóttir, explained during the strike that the hospital management has put pressure on those who resigned to return to work. Another striker said they are receiving more support from patients and their relatives than during the last strike in 1997.

The nurses have been without a contract since November 2000. They are demanding a starting wage of 150,000 Icelandic kronur (US$1,500) a month. Current starting wages equal US$890 a month. On May 16, 140 nurses at the National Hospital met during working hours to discuss their lack of a contract, and then delivered a declaration to the state negotiation committee. Among other things it said that despite the government's stated aims that men and women should receive equal wages for comparable jobs, the nurses, who are overwhelmingly women, have been left behind in recent years.

The declaration added, "Employees of the health-care service often have an unbearable workload, and if the demands of the hospital workers for better conditions are not met it should be clear that health care authorities are sitting on an incessantly ticking time bomb."

At a meeting on the last day of the walkout, a strike leader answered accusations by authorities that the nurses are responsible for the difficult situation in the hospitals. She pointed out that nurses have time and again described the conditions at the hospitals and warned of the effects of a strike, referring to the May 16 declaration.

The strike comes in the context of long-term cutbacks in public health-care services. In June the government announced plans to cut expenses by 300 million kronur (US$3 million) and to increase patients' share of medical costs.  
 
Public services workers fighting back
Less than a year ago a nationwide teachers' strike at senior high schools won considerable gains. In July special education teachers staged a four-week strike, and recently members of the Music Teachers Union voted 137 to 3 to walk out on October 22. Members of the Icelandic Musicians' Union decided to join them by a vote of 142 to 10.

In the last few days the government has introduced tax reforms that include lowering the tax on company revenue from 30 percent to 18 percent, and the tax on property holdings from 1.2 to 0.6 percent.

Hildur Magnúsdóttir, a cleaning worker, and Ögmundur Jónsson, who works at a fishnet factory, are both members of Efling û Union of unskilled workers in Reykjavík and of the Young Socialists. Arnar Sigurdsson, also a member of the Young Socialists, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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