Israeli Nurses Union Declares Labor Dispute Over Shortages

The Israeli Nurses Union declared a labor dispute on Thursday, citing extreme workloads and a shortage of nursing staff across hospitals, clinics, and other institutions. The move covers roughly 60,000 nursing professionals and allows the union and the government to continue talks for the next 15 days before a strike can be called.

Union chair Shaul Skif said the union had warned the Health and Finance Ministries for more than a year about the workload and that the warnings had been ignored.

The union listed several factors, including a constant increase in workload, rapidly declining working conditions, physical and mental burnout, and a low nurse-to-patient ratio. It also cited the government's refusal to meet demands in negotiations, restrictions on hiring new staff, and cutbacks that limit recruitment.

Skif said the union would not allow the nursing system to collapse or endanger lives due to the ministries' actions.

The union pointed to the use of technical staff in operating rooms at Sheba Medical Center as an example of the shortage's effects. Skif said the risk to patients must end immediately and warned that the union would stop the practice through organizational means if it continued.

The union also demanded that the Health Ministry honor a signed agreement to resume responsibility for school-aged children's healthcare and reverse a planned privatization process.