The News, September 8, 2008 Nurses from the Barlicki Hospital in Lodz, central Poland, struck for two hours at 8 a.m. this morning, in support of higher pay claims and privatisation plans. More that 50 percent of the medical staff took part in the strike. Nurses assert higher salary. Małgorzata Hirzewska, head of Nurses' Trade Union said that they tried but could not reach the agreement with the Hospital's authorities and  they cannot see other way of achieving their goals. ... Nurses

Radio Polonia, February 2, 2008 Prime Minister Donald Tusk has demanded explanations concerning the jamming of mobile phones of nurses who protested at the prime minister’s office last July. Prosecutors are to launch a probe into whether the use of jamming equipment was legal, Interior Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said after a meeting called by Tusk. A statement issued by the government’s press office says that contrary to the declarations made by the government of the then prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the protesting nurses were exposed to long term harmful electromagnetic radiation emitted by jamming equipment in the premier’s office. Copyright © Nowe Media, Polskie Radio SA Wszelkie prawa zastrze˝one

Joanna Najfeld, Radio Polonia, January 22, 2008 Representatives of the Polish government, the president and the striking doctors and nurses have met at the "Dialogue" Center for Social Partnership. The "White Summit" was devoted to the crisis situation in the Polish health care system. No breakthrough was reported after eight hours of heated discussions. A decision was made to set up a committee overseeing further talks. Prime Minister Donald Tusk also agreed to launch a special negotiation group working on the political side of the reform of the Polish health care system. ... White

European Public Health Alliance, August 29, 2007 Nurses and doctors in
Poland have taken the streets during a month, between mid-June and
mid-July 2007, to force the government to increase wages and inject
more funds into the public health sector. The main protest, on 21 June,
gathered around 7.000-10.000 nurses and doctors, who stayed overnight
in front of the government’s headquarters, in Warsaw. The next day, the
police removed the protesters from the city road with a result of three
wounded nurses, one reported to have had a heart attack. The protest
has been accompanied by strikes at hospitals across Poland during June
and July. ... Polish

Poland.pl, August 22, 2007 Their demonstration will be on a much
smaller scale than the previous one with only 30 tents put up in front
of the Polish parliament till Friday. Nurses chose this location as
they want to make sure that the parliament will vote on the bill
guaranteeing 30% pay hikes for workers of the health care sector. Their
previous protest in front of the Prime Minister's Chancellery lasted
from June 19 to July 15 but, in spite of several rounds of negotiations
with both representatives of the trade union and the government,
brought no results. Hence the nurses are planning to return to Warsaw
on September 6 to protest again in front of the Polish parliament
before its next session. Poland.pl information service is edited with

Irish Medical Times, August 9, 2007 The ongoing strike by doctors and
nurses in Poland for higher wages, which included a sit-in near the
Polish prime minister’s office, has continued since 19 June. Hospital
employees were camped in more than 100 tents across the road from the
prime minister’s office, bearing banners reading “Let us live in
dignity” while Warsaw residents brought them food. A third meeting with
government officials did not break the stalemate when the government
insisted no pay increases would be given. One nurse told the media the
strikers wanted to alert the government’s conscience to the plight of
the debt-ridden public health sector. ... Polish

AFP, July 8, 2007 Some 2,200 trade unionists demonstrated outside the
seat of the Polish government Friday in support of hundreds of nurses
who have pitched camp in front of the building in a two-week pay
protest. The demonstrators, including railway workers and miners from
Poland's southern Silesian coal belt, brandished banners reading, "We
want a decent living, like lawmakers" and "We want to work, not
emigrate". Ringed by riot police, the demonstrators mingled with nurses
who since a June 19 march have been camping out in all weathers
opposite the cabinet office in a high-profile protest. ... Trade

KB, Poland.pl, July 3, 2007 The protest of health care workers continues after another round of failed negotiations with the government. 5 nurses are currently on hunger strike. Also a 'city of white tents' has been set up in front of the Government Office in Warsaw where several hundred nurses, accompanied by doctors have been conducting their protest in demand of higher pay since June 19th. They pledged to continue the action till concrete decisions are taken. Janusz Kaczmarek, interior affairs and administration minister announced that work in underway on a plan of assistance to Polish hospitals. ... 15th

Jan Cienski, Financial Times, July 3, 2007 Warsaw - Talks between the Polish government and striking doctors and nurses are set to resume on Wednesday, following a proposal by the health minister to raise salaries next year. If the proposal is accepted, the tent city of protesting nurses that sprang up across the street from the prime minister's office in central Warsaw could disappear, but the growing pressure to increase public sector wages will not. Nurses have been protesting for more than two weeks. Doctors have been on strike for seven weeks, dozens are on hunger strike and hundreds more refuse to work in the public system. About 300 of Poland's 800 hospitals are affected. ... Talks

Associated Press, July 2, 2007 A sit-in near the Polish prime minister's office by doctors and nurses calling for higher wages and more public health spending entered its third week. The protest, accompanied by strikes at hospitals across Poland, grew out of a June 19 march in the capital by doctors and nurses. Hospital employees are now camped in more than 100 tents across the road from Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski 's office. They sit under banners reading "Let us live in dignity," with Warsaw residents bringing them food. Representatives of the protesters met Monday with Health Minister Zbigniew Religa their third meeting with officials over recent days but came away dissatisfied, saying Religa had said no wage increases were possible this year. ... Polish

Reuters, June 30, 2007 Warsaw - Protesting Polish doctors and nurses set up a makeshift tent hospital on the street outside the prime minister's office on Saturday for patients turned away from hospitals because of two months of strikes. Consultations and check ups were on offer in the tents, where hundreds of medical workers had camped out for nearly two weeks. Emergency services were still available at some state hospitals. Growing demonstrations and hunger strikes by some hospital staff have increased pressure on the conservative government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, but he has so far refused to meet their demands for big pay increases. ... Striking

Socialist Worker, June 30, 2007 Polish health workers are involved in a major battle against the right wing government. They are demanding pay rises. Up to 2,000 health workers, mainly nurses, have been camped outside the prime minister’s chancellery in Warsaw, Poland’s capital, since Tuesday of last week. Four trade union negotiators are occupying one of the offices in the chancellery. The tent city was set up following a 20,000 strong demonstration by all the health sector unions. There had been a similar demonstration last year. This time around 80 nurses were determined that they would not just go home after it had finished. They just stayed in front of the prime minister’s building and that night slept in the open air on the main road. Early the next morning the police roughly forced them onto the pavement. This outraged other health workers who began coming back in force. ... Nurses

Eastern European Review, June 30, 2007 Warsaw - Immediately after returning from convalescent leave for lung cancer surgery, Poland's health minister, Zbigniew Religa, met with striking nurses where they are camped out in Warsaw. As noted by a member of the opposition political party Civic Platform, his treatment of the nurses is a stark comparison to their treatment by the Prime Minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The Minister Religa went to the nurses, met with them in their tents and conversed with them. Kaczynski used force against them to try to rid them from their camp, refused to talk to them for days, and then when he finally did talk to them, he lectured them. In his talk with the nurses, Religa made some remarks that have gotten a lot of attention. ... Poland

Jurnalo, June 29, 2007 Human Rights Commissioner for the Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg on Friday voiced support for underpaid Polish nurses who have pitched a protest camp in front of government building in central Warsaw in a bid to draw attention to their wage demands. "I understand the basis for this manifestation are social and economic rights, which are fundamental human rights," Hammarberg said Friday during a visit to the protest camp. He said he hoped talks between the government and nurses scheduled for Monday would bring a positive resolution to the stand-off. Braving summer rain storms, about 1,000 nurses have been camped out in front of the Polish prime minister's chancellery in central Warsaw since June 18. Several nurses have also begun a hunger strike. ... Europe

AFP, June 26, 2007 Talks are to open between the Polish government and striking nurses who have been camping outside the prime minister's office in Warsaw for the past week, a union official said Tuesday. Four nurses who had been occupying the cabinet office in support of their campaign for better pay left Tuesday after "an hour's meeting with Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski", said Dorota Gardias, head of the OZZPP national nurses' union. She was one of the four nurses taking part in the occupation. Gardias told several hundred of her colleagues camping in some 150 tents outside the government building that Kaczynski had proposed fresh talks on Wednesday afternoon to discuss their claims. "We shall go to this meeting. But our struggle is not over: things will be clearer tomorrow," she said. ... Talks