Nurses to intensify strike

Nurses working at the B8 ward at Tórshavn’s National Hospital will go on strike on Thursday at 3pm.

This announcement was made today on the The Faroese Union of Nurses (Felagið hjá sjúkrarøktarfrøðingunum) website.

This is an intensification of the current strike, which involves nurses working at the National Hospital’s G4 unit and the surgical department as well as nurses at Klaksvík Hospital’s patient ward and its surgical department.

B8’s department manager, deputy manager and outpatient treatment will not be affected by the extended strike.

Tough negotiations

The nurses’ union last week issued the following statement regarding the negotiations with the finance ministry:

"We have been working without a contract since 1 October 2019. We have shown great willingness to work towards a solution, paying special consideration to the public health care system throughout the negotiations. But the Ministry of Finance does not appear to desire a solution and seeks to muddle the negotiations by dragging the pay increase, which both parties agreed on in 2017, into the salary frame for the current talks.

"After negotiating with the Ministry of Finance since 4 December 2019, and with the assistance of the Conciliation Board in the past four weeks, we have no choice but to declare that the negotiations have broken down.”

Translated by prosa.fo