Turkish health workers strike for better pay, conditions
ABC News
Thousands of Turkish healthcare workers, frustrated by an erosion of their income, have gone on strike, demanding better pay and improved working conditions
ISTANBUL -- Thousands of Turkish healthcare workers, frustrated by an erosion of their income, went on a one-day strike Tuesday demanding better pay and improved working conditions.
Members of the Turkish Medical Association and other unions also staged protests in Ankara and in Istanbul, demanding increased wages, which now for some stand currently only slightly above the national minimum wage.
Demands also included shorter shifts, measures to protect them against increased verbal and physical assaults from patients or their relatives, and for COVID-19 infections among healthcare workers to be classified an an occupational hazard.
Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel tending to critical patients and emergencies did not participate in the strike.
