Nurses Union Declares Nationwide Labor Dispute Covering 60,000 Healthcare Workers

The Israeli Nurses and Nursing Assistants Union declared a nationwide labor dispute Thursday covering roughly 60,000 workers across state hospitals, health funds, community clinics, tipat halav maternal centers and nursing schools, starting a two-week clock before a general strike can begin under Israeli labor law. Union chairman Shaul Skif said the union has warned the Health and Finance Ministries for over a year about unbearable workloads and been completely ignored, and that after three years of pandemic and war the state should give nurses the resources to care for citizens. The union cites a shortage of over 1,000 nursing positions, hospitals bringing untrained technicians into operating rooms in place of scrub nurses, and unilateral privatization of school health services. Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David and Skif had asked the Health Ministry earlier in the week to open immediate negotiations.