Union leaders said Tuesday that 93 percent of the nurses who voted over two days favored staying off the job until wage demands were met. They said about half of the 47,500 striking nurses participated in the voting.

The nurses, who say they are among the poorest paid in Canada, are seeking an immediate 10 percent raise plus a 6 percent increase over two years.

The pro-independence provincial government of Premier Lucien Bouchard has ruled out giving the nurses more than a 5 percent pay raise over three years. That is the deal extended previously to other public-sector unions as the provincial government succeeded in balancing Quebec's budget for the first time in decades.

The nurses say they will stay on strike until the government agrees to negotiate; the government says it won't negotiate until the strike ends.

Quebec nurses' minimum wage - $30,340 ($20,630 U.S.) - is the lowest among unionized nurses in Canada. The top wage for Quebec nurses is $44,072 ($29,970 U.S.), close to the national average.

The nurses have maintained essential services during the strike but thousands of elective surgeries and many doctors' appointments have been canceled.

The nurses have enjoyed strong public support and have been joined in their marches by other public-sector employees such as doctors, pharmacists, ambulance workers and police.

Any widespread labor unrest could be damaging to Bouchard's hopes to hold another referendum on secession from Canada within the next year or so, since unions traditionally have been loyal supporters of the separatist cause.

The government has combated the nurses with fines and docked their pay for missing work. But it hasn't threatened them with arrest for defying back-to-work legislation.

Even before the strike, Quebec's health care system was in trouble. The province began sending cancer patients to the United States in June because its waiting lists were too long.

AP

It is only through sharing our experiences and strengths that we can overcome the effects the violence has had on our professional and personal lives. It is through well-focused individual and collective interaction and action that healing and empowerment will come.

I invite all nurses who choose activism over apathy---empowerment over powerlessness---to join us in the Nightingale Network.