Swedish nurses strike over wages: union

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — More than 2,500 nurses and health professionals across Sweden walked off the job on Monday in a wage dispute, their union said, leading to closed emergency wards and cancelled operations.

"Everyone agrees that our work is necessary to provide good and safe care, but not everyone agrees on what this is worth," Tor Enqvist, a spokesman for the Swedish Association of Health Professionals, Vaardfoerbundet, told AFP.

The action affected more than 50 hospitals and healthcare centres, as nurses, midwives, biomedical scientists and radiographers called for wage increases of 1,700 kronor (288 dollars, 181 euros) per year for 2008 and 2009.

The minimum monthly wage for Sweden's 90,000 nurses is 20,000 kronor (3,386 dollars, 2,130 euros), while the...