Vårdförbundet and Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions, SKR, have not managed to reach an agreement. The Vårdförbundet is therefore extending its strike from Tuesday at 11 a.m. with an additional 1,300 members.
The strike has been going on since June 4 at the university hospitals in Stockholm, Västra Götaland, Skåne, Östergötland, Västerbotten and Örebro.
Now the Värmland region and more workplaces in the total of six regions are also covered. This applies, among other things, to health centres.
Classified as dangerous to society
Initially, the extended strike notice applied to an additional 1,900 members, but after local negotiations the notice was canceled entirely in Västmanland. The region argued that taking their 60 members out on strike had posed a danger to society.
– We had to back down in Västmanland. We take our responsibility. The employer has pointed out that the notice is dangerous to society during the negotiations before, says Sineva Ribeiro, chairperson of the Healthcare Association.
How will your strike affect healthcare?
– It is clear that everything we do affects healthcare. The patients who are supposed to have healthcare will receive healthcare.
Requires shorter working hours
The dispute concerns a reduction in working hours of 15 minutes a day or 75 minutes a week, something that the employer could not meet. They believe that it is not financially possible.
There does not yet appear to be an end date for either the negotiations or the strike.
“There are ongoing contacts between the mediators and the parties, but we do not yet know when a new offer will come from the mediators,” writes SKR in an email to SVT.
– They don’t want to give us what we demand. We have a strategy around the conflict. We have the option of giving notice 14 days in advance so that the employer can find a solution, says Ribeiro.