The wage dispute between Swedish nurses and their employers intensified on Thursday as 900 health care workers prepared to join the 2,500 already on strike.

Union spokesman Tor Enqvist said the additional nurses would join the strike on Thursday and Friday and that 7,000 more could walk out of their jobs on May 7 if a settlement has not been reached with employers.

The salary dispute follows similar labor conflicts in the Nordic region, where health care workers have fought to raise the status - and the pay - of their profession.

An ongoing strike in Denmark has seen about 100,000 health and day-care workers walk out of their jobs to demand a 15 percent wage hike over the next three years.

In Finland, nurses last year managed to negotiate wage increases of 22 to 28 percent over four years by threatening to quit their jobs.

"This is about raising far too low wages and making sure it is profitable to get an education," said Sophie Uppvik, a 36-year-old nurse at an emergency ward in Stockholm.

"My younger brother is a train driver and he gets 26,500 kronor (US$4,500; euro2,800) a month and I get 20,000 (US$3,400; euro2,100) after three years in emergency care, that is insane," she said.

The unions representing the nurses say the strike is also an issue of gender equality, because professions dominated by women typically have lower salaries than those dominated by men, even in egalitarian Sweden.

The employers, municipal authorities that run Sweden's public hospitals, counter that the nurses have seen salaries rise quicker than other public sector employees since 1995, and fear that giving in to union demands will trigger salary revolts amid other municipal employees.

"Already now we see signs that other groups will demand compensation in the next negotiation rounds," said Ingela Gardner Sundstrom, who chairs the employers' negotiation team.

Hospitals across Sweden have been forced to cancel dozens of non-emergency operations because of the strike, which started on Monday. Some emergency rooms have also been shut, increasing the work load at those that remain open.

The public health authorities have refused to meet union demands for a minimum wage for nurses of 22,000 kronor (US$3,700; euro2,340) a month and an average wage hike of 1,700 kronor (US$291; euro182) a month.

The authorities had proposed a minimum wage of 21,100 kronor (US$3,550, euro2,240) and salary hikes of 4 percent in 2008 and 2.5 percent in 2009.

So far there are no signs of a solution to the conflict. The municipalities' chief negotiator, Staffan Lowenborg said he is still waiting to hear from the mediators, who called off negotiations on Saturday.

Health authorities tried to stop the additional 900 nurses from joining the walkout, saying that would endanger public health. However, they later agreed with unions to stop only 100 essential health care workers from participating in the strike.

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