Resistance to health staff demands ”has to do with that we're mostly women”

The hiring and overtime freeze set in motion by Vårdförbundet, The Swedish Association of Health Professionals could escalate to a strike at several hospitals next week, unless the union and the employers – the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions and Sobona – reach an agreement that is mostly centered on working hours.

This is something that nurse Lina Ocampo Daza at Uppsala University Hospital supports: ”A lot I think has to do with not valuing our profession, that we're mostly women working in this profession”, she says.

But Johan Lugnegård, Chief Medical Officer at Uppsala University Hospital says that Uppsala Regional health authority and the association of health professionals have differing views on what counts as overtime.