Dutch hospitals hold 24-hour strike for better pay, conditions

AMSTERDAM: Health workers went on a 24-hour strike at dozens of hospitals across the Netherlands on Thursday to support trade union demands for a 10 per cent pay increase and better terms.
Hospitals continued to operate on scaled-down schedules, meaning that only emergency care was being provided, a trade union statement said.
It was the latest in a series of strikes in the Netherlands seeking improved pay deals across a wide range of sectors.
Unions representing roughly 200,000 healthcare employees are currently in talks with hospitals to improve salaries, reduce workloads and address declining purchasing power as a result of high inflation.
Among demands are a pay increase of 10 per cent for one year and an additional €100 (US$106) in one-off wages, the union statement said.