Negotiators working through the night forged a wage compromise Saturday that should allow striking Slovakian doctors to return to work, dpa reported. The doctors had demanded 700-euro-a-month raises, but the government offered 300 euros. A comprise was stuck whereby wages will rise in three stages to a compromise figure between the two amounts by 2013. Prime Minister Iveta Radicova and colleagues worked through the night Friday to prepare labour contracts reflecting this change. But the doctors' union cautioned its members to hold off on returning to work until the contracts had been vetted. In November, nearly 2,400 doctors resigned to demand an increase on their 1600-euro-a-month average wage. In addition to the resignees, some 1200 to 3000 doctors called sick, essentially crippling the country's medical system.
