Nurses across Israel went on strike Dec. 3, demanding wage raises and improved working conditions. The strike, organized by the Israel Nurses Union, affects public hospitals and most health clinics.

The government had promised to begin contract negotiations in September. Instead, it asked the union to wait until after the parliamentary elections at the end of January. But the nurses, whose contract expires that month, said they were unwilling to wait, reported the Jerusalem Post.

The nurses are protesting both inadequate wages and a too-heavy workload.

“We need to increase the number of nurses. They’re only at half the number that is required,” Uri Fleischmann, director general of the Israel Nurses Union, told the Militant in a phone interview Dec. 4 right after a negotiating session with the government. “We’re also seeking to increase basic wages of nurses to attract more young people to the occupation.”

There are about 30,000 nurses on strike at over 40 hospitals across Israel, Fleischmann said. “In every hospital we have an exceptional committee that decides which treatments need to be made and which can be postponed.”

—BRIAN WILLIAMS