The overwhelming majority of Icelandic nurses have voted in favor of a strike, RÚV reports. Per a recent vote of the Icelandic Nursing Association, 85.5% approved a strike; 13.3% opposed it. A total of 2,143 nurses participated in voting, a participation rate of 82.2%.
As a result of the vote, the union has decided that nurses will go on an indefinite strike starting at 8.00am on Monday, June 22. The strike will continue until the union has reached a contract agreement with the Icelandic government.
The strike will extend to nurses working throughout Iceland. “We’re talking about the whole country,” remarked Nursing Association chair Guðbjörg Pálsdóttir. “All healthcare centres and those workplaces that employ nurses working under this contract.”
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Negotiations between the nursing union and the government resumed after nurses rejected the collective bargaining agreement that was presented at the end of April. A key issue is base salaries; nurses demand that starting wages within the profession be raised.
Icelandic nurses have been without a contract for almost 15 months.
