Most nurses, medical workers call off planned strike after last-minute wage deals

Most nurses and medical workers called off their planned strike Thursday after reaching last-minute wage deals, hospital officials said, easing concerns over public health services that have been strained by a protracted walkout by trainee doctors. The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union (KHMU), which represents some 30,000 nurses and medical workers, had planned to stage a strike Thursday, demanding a pay raise and improvements in working conditions. Of the 62 hospitals under the KHMU, 59 called off their planned strike, hospital officials said. The move followed the passage of a bill in parliament on the previous day that provides the legal basis for physician assistant nurses to assist doctors in performing medical procedures and offers better legal protection to nurses. Nurses had advocated for the bill's passage, emphasizing the need for legal protection and better working conditions, though it faced fierce opposition from the medical community. Of the remaining three hospitals, medical worker s at Chosun University Hospital in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, are set to proceed with the walkout. Source: Yonhap News Agency