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The National Union of Nurses and Midwives (OZZPiP) has warned of nationwide protest action if the Health Ministry fails to react to their grievances. On 8 February, nurses in four hospitals in the Southeast of Poland went on strike, demanding the pay increases promised to them in 2006-2007. Solidarity actions followed. On 22 February, talks between health minister Ewa Kopacz and OZZPiP representatives wound up with no solution. According to the unionists the minister tried to shirk off responsibility for decision-making in this area. OZZPiP leader Dorota Gardas stated that the Ministry is blind for the serious situation in the country's hospitals. "There are no norms, no effective control over funds and no wage increases. Nurses are becoming an extinct profession with the average age of a Polish nurse at around 45 years old. The health ministry creates no incentives for young people to undertake education in this profession," Gardas complained bitterly. English: http://www.thenews.pl/national/artykul126112_nursing-becoming-an ...;http://www.pracownik.net.pl/meeting_at_health_ministry_and_solidarity_with ... |
For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.