Nurses at Hadassah Hospital Launch Strike Over Unpaid Wages
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Nurses and non-medical staff walked off the job at Hadassah Medical Center to protest receiving only half of their January salaries.
The strike Sunday morning lasted for three hours, after which the workers returned, but said they would only work a reduced Sabbath and holiday schedule. Doctors and administrators switched to a reduced schedule last week, saying they would not return until they receive their full wages. The hospital system plans to pay the workers only 90 percent o f their salaries with bailout money being provided by the Israeli government and Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
A Jerusalem court last week approved a 90-day stay of protection from the medical center’s creditors as it faces a deficit of $367 million. The hospital could ask the court for an injunction ordering employees back to work on a regular schedule.
During the 90 days, the medical center will work on a recovery plan for the hospital, which could include firing up to 530 employees, or 10 percent of the workforce, according to Haaretz.
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.
