Government offers nurses zl.170 raise, they want more and continue protesting

The government announced Wednesday it is willing to give a gross raise of zl.170 a month to those nurses whose work-place average salary is not higher than the national average. The protesting nurses said the proposition it is not satisfactory but promised to resume negotiations on Wednesday evening. According to the government's estimates, if all nurses were to get a zl.170 rise, it would cost the budget an extra zl.510 million. Meanwhile, the total cost of a zl.500 pay increase demanded by trade unions would reach some zl.1.5 billion. Yesterday nurses continued to block the centers of several cities and domestic highways. In Wroclaw the protesters through eggs at the police. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1, Rzeczpospolita p.A1) P.J.