Nurses take action to win higher pay

Denmark

The DSR nurses’ union organised industrial action on Saturday 19 June following a two to one membership vote to reject a conciliator's mediation proposal for a new agreement. Earlier this year the DSR membership rejected the main municipal and regional government collective agreement, calling for a higher pay rise for nurses. The conciliation process failed to deliver a result that the membership could endorse and so action involving around 5000 nurses went ahead. The union argues that the health services have been starved of investment and nurses have faced increasing work pressure and greater demands on flexibility. The DSR says that it still supports the proposal for a wage structure committee that was agreed in the main public sector agreement and argues that it could deliver. However, the problem is that the proposal is too vague for members who want more concrete commitments in the short term. In particular, the union wants to see politicians back the need for structural changes to address the undervaluing of female-dominated professions in the public sector.

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