Hadassah Hospital Workers Threaten Strike If Not Paid Full Salary
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Doctors at Hadassah Medical Center said they would start a full strike if they do not receive the salary owed to them.
Staff members on Sunday threatened to go on a full strike the following day unless they receive the remaining half of their unpaid salaries by midnight, the Times of Israel reported.
They received only half their January salaries due to the center’s $367 million deficit.
The doctors at Hadassah’s two campuses have been on partial strike, offering only urgent treatment on a Sabbath and holiday schedule for nearly a week.
Doctors in all of Israel’s hospitals went on a two-hour strike on Sunday morning in solidarity with the Hadassah staff.
Israel’s Health Minister Yael German announced a financial recovery package offered to the hospital, including a government loan of more than $14 million to be matched by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Haaretz reported.
The announcement came after the hospital on Friday filed for court protection against its creditors, including employees filing to receive back salaries, after two Israeli banks cut off their lines of credit, according to reports.
The money from the government and Hadassah would allow the hospital to continue operating, but not to pay the back salaries.
Haaretz reported that the court trustee in the case will not take over management of the hospital.
Hadassah Medical Center is one of the largest hospitals in Israel and the only one specializing in head trauma.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
