The Union of Portuguese Nurses (SEP) blamed on this Wednesday, the day of the strike, some hospital departments for “proposing a drastic increase in minimum services”, such as in the São José hospital in Lisbon, where “almost all” are professionals.
“Discontent is widespread and commitment [à greve] it is diverse, we do not have global data, but we have several institutions, (…) although some, in an unbearable exercise of the right to strike, have proposed a brutal extension of minimum services,” said Luza, AKP President José Carlos Martins.
Speaking at the entrance to the emergency room at the San José hospital, the union leader cited the facility as an example, saying that “although almost all of them receive minimal services, 65% of the nurses have joined the strike.”
José Carlos Martins told Luza that the hospital in Povoa de Varzim has an adherence rate of 80%, the hospital of Dona Estefania (Lisbon) 82%, the hospitals Vila Franca de Xira and Pombal 75%, the hospital Maternidad Alfredo da Costa (Lisbon) – 82%. 60%, Institute of Ophthalmology Dr. Gama Pinto (Lisbon) with 63%, the Alcobaça division with 93% and the enterprises in Beja and São João (Porto) with 48%.
“There is no dialogue here on the part of the Ministry of Health, which is aware of the problems, and therefore we do not know why it does not meet with the AKP in order to solve them. If he doesn’t settle the situation, if he doesn’t make an appointment, naturally the fighting and strikes will continue,” he said.
The trade unionist, accompanied by a delegation of four, emphasized that it was the Ministry of Health that should “show signs that it wants to solve problems.”
“The strike will always be considered (…) and depends only on the Ministry of Health. If it meets and presents verified, sensible and adequate proposals, then, of course, the strike will be suspended,” he said.
Nurses are fighting for guidelines regarding career scoring, redressing relative inequities, retroactive payments from 2018, and restoring pay parity between nursing careers and senior technician careers and others in healthcare.
At the same time, public administration workers gathered at the main entrance to the San Jose hospital as part of the CGTP’s national day of struggle, demanding higher wages and protesting against the rising cost of living.
“We decided to symbolically hold a plenary session here with auxiliary workers (…). These workers have no career (…) due to a change in legislation in 2008. These workers have a very specific function and therefore a special career should be created,” said Lusa Ana Amaral from the Union of Public and Social Workers of the South and Autonomous Regions.
According to the union leader, the talks “do not meet” the workers’ expectations.
“The government proposal only integrates those workers who have already completed TAS training. [Tripulante de Ambulância de Socorro]. This is unthinkable given the number of workers left after this training,” he said, adding that the assistants should have a second-degree career with 3,100 hours of training and pay increases.
“The government has proposed a one notch increase, we are demanding a three notch increase to match the level of demand for this profession,” he added.
CGTP general secretary Isabelle Camarinha said this Wednesday that the commitment to hundreds of strikes across the country as part of the union center’s national day of struggle for higher wages is “high”.
Hundreds of strikes, demonstrations, rallies and plenary sessions across the country are taking place this Wednesday as part of the CGTP’s national day to fight for higher wages and protest against rising costs of living.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.