After 17 days, the Treasury and the Nurses’ Union have formulated a new wage deal meant to end the nurses’ nationwide strike. The nurses resumed their duties Thursday morning.
After a seven-hour, overnight hearing at the Labor Court, the parties signed an agreement meant to increase that nurses wages by 14% over the next four and a half years. Under the terms of the agreement, the Ministry of Finance has agreed to grant the nurses a pay hike of NIS 1,300 per month. This agreement is especially good for lower salary earners because it is a flat and equal rise for all nurses rather than a percentage increase. The rises achieved by the nurses in this latest agreement do not include the annual 1.5% salary hikes that all public sector employees will receive.
Nurses at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon during the strike (Photo: Barzilai Hospital)
The deal has been dubbed “historic” and will see an across-the-board wage increase to the nurses’ wages. National Nurses Union chairwoman Ilana Cohen said of the deal: “I am satisfied by the agreement and my nurses are also happy with it. The agreement signed in effect recognizes the hardships faced by the nursing profession and is another important means of solving Israel’s nursing shortage. The extra salary will make nursing a national preferred profession that is attractive enough to draw new nurses and will keep veteran nurses, who work day and night for their patients, in the profession.”
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