An agreement was reached between the state and nurses last night. The agreement brings to an end a stalemate which had resulted in a law being passed on June 13 to make the strike, which had begun on May 27 illegal. The legislation resulted in nurses to resign in protest.
18-20% rate increases by 2019
The contract, which expires in March 2019, gives the nurses a 18.6% wage rate increase during the first three years, in addition to several other benefits. Ólafur G. Skúlason, the chairman of the Association of Icelandic Nurses told The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service it had made more sense to reach an agreement than to continue to face the repressive measures introduced by the state when legislation was passed to ban the strike.
Ólafur argued the agreement was quite similar to other labour agreements which have been struck in the past few weeks.
Mass resignations had threatened the healthcare system
It is still unclear whether nurses who had already handed in their resignation letters will withdraw their resignations. While some nurses that local news service Visir.is spoke to yesterday, before the agreement was reached, said they and many others would not resign in an agreement was reached before July 1, others vowed to stand by their resignations, even if an agreement was reached. The reasons they cited were not only low pay, but also underfunding and poor working conditions.
The problems facing the healthcare system are therefore not over, despite the agreement reached yesterday.
Members of the Association of Academics walk out negotiations
With an agreement reached with the nurses the only major group which has not signed a new agreement is The Association of Academics (BHM), which represents numerous university education professionals working for municipal and other public authorities. These include, among others, veterinarians working for the health inspection and lawyers working for Reykjavík municipality. Their strike, which began in early April, had led to a serious meat shortage in Iceland, and a massive backlog of unprocessed legal documents at City Hall.
The law, which banned the strike of the nurses, also ended the strike of BHM, forcing its members back to work. Negotiations with BHM are still deadlocked, however. According to The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service the representatives of BHM stormed out of a meeting yesterday, after only ten minutes.
An agreement was reached between the state and nurses last night. The agreement brings to an end a stalemate which had resulted in a law being passed on June 13 to make the strike, which had begun on May 27 illegal. The legislation resulted in nurses to resign in protest.
18-20% rate increases by 2019
The contract, which expires in March 2019, gives the nurses a 18.6% wage rate increase during the first three years, in addition to several other benefits. Ólafur G. Skúlason, the chairman of the Association of Icelandic Nurses told The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service it had made more sense to reach an agreement than to continue to face the repressive measures introduced by the state when legislation was passed to ban the strike.
Ólafur argued the agreement was quite similar to other labour agreements which have been struck in the past few weeks.
Mass resignations had threatened the healthcare system
It is still unclear whether nurses who had already handed in their resignation letters will withdraw their resignations. While some nurses that local news service Visir.is spoke to yesterday, before the agreement was reached, said they and many others would not resign in an agreement was reached before July 1, others vowed to stand by their resignations, even if an agreement was reached. The reasons they cited were not only low pay, but also underfunding and poor working conditions.
The problems facing the healthcare system are therefore not over, despite the agreement reached yesterday.
Members of the Association of Academics walk out negotiations
With an agreement reached with the nurses the only major group which has not signed a new agreement is The Association of Academics (BHM), which represents numerous university education professionals working for municipal and other public authorities. These include, among others, veterinarians working for the health inspection and lawyers working for Reykjavík municipality. Their strike, which began in early April, had led to a serious meat shortage in Iceland, and a massive backlog of unprocessed legal documents at City Hall.
The law, which banned the strike of the nurses, also ended the strike of BHM, forcing its members back to work. Negotiations with BHM are still deadlocked, however. According to The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service the representatives of BHM stormed out of a meeting yesterday, after only ten minutes.
