Nurses pledge further strike action

Sweden's nurses announced plans on Tuesday to intensify their ongoing strike in a bid to secure higher wages.

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The decision to extend the industrial action was taken when the Swedish Association of Healthcare Professionals (Vårdförbundet) met for its annual congress on Tuesday.

"The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) has failed to react to our industrial action so far, which is why we are now forced to go further," Vårdförbundet's chaiwoman Anna-Karin Eklund told news agency TT.

Some 4,100 heathcare professionals are scheduled to walk off their jobs on May 29th, bringing the total number of striking nurse to 10,200.

University hospitals in Lund, Örebro, Västra Götaland, Uppsala and Stockholm will all be affected by the latest twist in a strike that has already entered its fourth week.

Ingela Gartner Sundström, chairwoman of SALAR, felt the situation was already sufficiently precarious without the added complication of an additional strike action.

"I don't think this is the right way to go when we are about to enter into negotiations. It's not like more industrial action is going to increase the willingness of employers to pay higher wages," she said.

SALAR and the nurses association are scheduled to meet with official mediators on Wednesday in a bid to bring the conflict to an end.