Israeli medical residents, who have been on strike for months, with many of them going as far as tendering their resignations, have agreed to return to the negotiating table today.
The two latest sticking point between the residents and the Finance Ministry is the duration of the agreement they are working on, during which time the residents won’t be allowed to strike again, and that residents will need to sign in and out on employee time clocks, a condition originally agreed upon between the Israel Medical association (IMA) and the Finance Ministry in August during the doctor’s strike that preceded this one.
The Finance Ministry wants the residents to sign an agreement for 9 years to prevent a reoccurrence of these strikes in the near future, while the residents want the agreement to last no more than 3 years.
The residents, unhappy with the original agreement their IMA representatives signed off on demanded “social justice” for doctors and decided at that time to continue their protest, strike independently and even resign en masse.
The National Labor Court declared these mass resignations illegal.
Last week, the High Court of Justice ordered the residents back to work while they continued negotiations, but the residents refused to listen to the High Court’s order.