This Sunday the government is holding a new round of negotiations with the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) and the Independent Union of Doctors (SIM) after an inconclusive meeting last Friday.
The two unions then submitted a counter-offer to the Guardianship Authority for negotiations, in which they demand the restoration of 35 hours of working time per week for all doctors who wish, and 12 hours of working time per week in the Emergency Service, as well as a cross-cutting increase in wages by 30%.
Negotiations between the Ministry of Health and SIM and the National Federation of Doctors Fnam began in 2022, but the lack of an agreement has intensified doctors’ struggle with strikes and claims to justify overtime work beyond the mandatory 150 hours a year, causing restrictions and the closure of emergency services in hospitals across the country .
The situation prompted SNS chief executive Fernando Araujo to warn that unless doctors reach an agreement with the government, November could be the worst month in SNS’s 44 years of existence.
On Friday, leaving a meeting at the Health Ministry that lasted about two hours, SIM Secretary General Jorge Roque da Cunha said the government would analyze the unions’ joint proposal and “make a counter-proposal.” the two documents will then guide a new round of negotiations this Sunday.
The two union bodies said they were “fully open” to dialogue “given the gravity of the situation facing the NHS at the moment”.
Fnam President Joana Bordalo e Sa said at the same time that the condition of the federation’s presence at this Sunday’s meeting is that the ministry submits “a written proposal during Saturday” for analysis, remembering that unions have become accustomed over the last 18 months to “a series of meetings that turned out to be very fruitless.”
“It is very important that the principles set out in our proposal are accepted and that we can apply them seriously and intelligently,” the union leader said.
Joana Bordalo e Sa said that what is at stake “is really the National Health Service, which is in danger, and the Ministry of Health has done nothing to solve the problem until this Sunday.”
He argued that Manuel Pizarro now needed to accept the principles set out in the unions’ counterproposal, come up with a counterproposal, and after that there could be “a stage that can give a reasonable answer to the doctors.” Table.
“If nothing actually happens, this fight will continue because doctors are fighting effectively for their working conditions, they are fighting for the National Health Service,” warned Joana Bordalo e Sa, stressing that the strike planned for November 14 and 15 will remain if there is no agreement.