Staff at all seven university hospitals in the Netherlands are on strike
Translated by Thomas Ansell
You might think that now that we are in the latter stages of the Coronavirus pandemic, care staff might be due a break. Not so for those at the various university hospitals in the Netherlands, including the UMCG, where staff are today striking over a proposed new pay deal (CAO).
As reported by the Dagblad van het Noorden, this means that the UMCG will be operating a ‘Sunday service’ today, with lots of non-essential operations and treatments postponed to make sure that emergency help remains available. Staff from eleven departments at the UMCG are joining the strike.
The FNV union says that the pay package offered to UMCG staff is ‘laughable’, and so called a 24-hour strike.
“The strike day has been known about for quite a long time, and so we have done as much as possible to mitigate its effects”, says a spokesperson for the hospital. Around fifty operations have been suspended due to the action.
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