The Independent All United Nurses Union (SITEU) told Lusa on Tuesday that support for the strike demanding equality with senior public service technicians was between 80 and 90 percent.
“In terms of commitment on the mainland and Madeira Island, we are very pleased with the commitment and determination of our colleagues and nurses. Compliance across institutions averaged 80 to 90%. We had services at 50% level, but [também] we had 100%,” said union president Gorete Pimentel, announcing a new strike on March 11.
On December 21, nurses began a nearly two-week strike that lasted until this Tuesday.
The strike was called by SITEU, which is demanding a salary increase of 52 euros to match the 1,333.35 euros that senior public administration technicians receive from level 16 onwards.
“It was a demonstration of widespread dissatisfaction on the part of nurses, dissatisfaction with the way licensed nurses are treated, they are treated as if they were not licensed,” he continued.
Gorete Pimentel, however, denounced that “many doctors” and “supervisors and managers are ending the strike,” opening services and “calling nurses from home to replace the strikers.”
“We have reported all of this and we have more reports to ACT. [Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho]. In Madeira, for example, we had managers who tore up the strike notice every time it was published,” he noted.
Regarding the reasons for the boycott of the strikes, the trade union leader accused Portugal of being a “small country” that has “lived with the union system for many years.”
“According to the strike law, (…) no one can disrupt a striker’s strike. It cannot be replaced, schedules cannot be changed (…). This has always been done and there have never been any complaints, “Because these are trade unions of the system. When there is a trade union that is not part of the system, this is done, but there will be consequences, I hope. There have been complaints, and I will continue to do this,” he emphasized He.
Asked about possible new forms of struggle, the union leader said nurses would begin a new strike “the day after the legislative elections” scheduled for March 10.
“We are going to start a strike on March 11, and during the election campaign we have planned actions, about which I cannot say what they are (…) so as not to lose their sudden nature. This has nothing to do with a strike. a specific party, not two. This applies to all parties that have seats in parliament,” he said.
Luse, on the eve of the strike, Gorethe Pimentel said the issue had been referred to the Ministry of Health, which had pledged to resolve the situation by the end of the year, but the government’s dismissal in the meantime had left the nurses unanswered. .
Last month, a group of citizens, including doctors such as Sobrinho Simões and Júlio Machado Vaz, called on health workers to suspend, until a new government takes power, forms of fighting that jeopardize patients’ access to health care.