The platform, which brings together five nurses’ unions, this Friday guaranteed it “will not back down” from aligning the careers of nurses with those of senior technicians in the public administration, saying “it is a red line” that they will not be allowed to cross.
“In the current medical career there should be two levels of salary, and we will not back down from this. This is a red line that we will not allow to be crossed,” the president of the Nurses’ Union (NU) told reporters.
Pedro Costa spoke to journalists after the leaders of SIPE (Independent Union of Nurses), the Nurses Union (SE), the Democratic Union of Nurses of Portugal (SINDEPOR), the Independent Union of All United Nurses (SITEU) and the National Nurses Union (SNE) met this Friday early in the morning over two hours with the ministerial health team led by Ana Paula Martins.
“It was a very tense meeting, but this is the line [vermelha] that we have implemented and explained to the minister because nurses will be needed now in this emergency plan that will be implemented immediately,” he stressed.
Pedro Costa stressed that if the ministry does not make concessions, the National Health Service could be in “total chaos in the summer”.
“And unless there are concessions on the wage scale at the level we want, we will not reach an agreement,” he continued.
The SE leader noted that the five unions still have until next Wednesday to present “remaining negotiating issues.”
“The guardianship proposes to revise the salary table for nurses. We want the table for nurses to be equated to a special career in public administration in the field of health care. This means additional efforts on the part of the Ministry of Health,” he explained, recalling that the basic salary will increase by 30-40% .
According to the union leader, the platform will meet with the guardianship again on June 20.
At its first meeting in April, the platform welcomed the government’s openness to dialogue to try to resolve issues affecting nurses.
The Health Minister began meetings at 10 a.m. with doctors’ representatives and then with representatives of several nurses’ unions.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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