Opposition unites to approve nursing careers bill

The Livre bill on nursing careers was approved this Wednesday in parliament, with almost the entire opposition voting in favor and the parties supporting the government, the PSD and the CDS-PP, voting against it.

This is a legislative initiative presented by the Collegium of Livre, which provides for the abolition of intermediate pay positions and salary parity between nursing careers and higher technical careers in public administration, approved by votes for PS, Chega, BE, PCP, Livre and PAN, abstaining from the Liberal initiative and only against the SDP and SDS-PP benches.

This Wednesday’s vote saw the defeat of four other bills and three draft resolutions – the latter without the force of law – on the professional and remunerated development of nurses, sponsored by BE, PAN, PCP, Chega and Livre.

Tuesday’s debate saw several opposition parties defend higher nurses’ pay and career advancement, with the SDP panel referring the issue to talks between the government and unions starting on Friday.

These positions were expressed during the debate on a petition presented by the Portuguese trade union association Enfermeiros, with more than 11 thousand signatures, which calls for the unfreezing of careers and certification of nurses in mainland Portugal in the same way as is applied to their colleagues in Madeira.

In her speech, PSD MP Ana Oliveira stressed that it is “fundamentally important to correct the noticeable inequalities” under socialist rule, and recalled that later this week the Ministry of Health will “open a dialogue” with health unions.

“Organizations representing the nursing profession will have the opportunity to present their proposals, which may include the petition discussed here, in a solutions-oriented dialogue focused on the care and protection of those who work and those who receive care,” the organization said. parliamentary social democrat.

Despite acknowledging that many of the legislative proposals presented had a strong basis, Ana Oliveira did not consider their development to be “timely”, saying that a negotiation process between the government and nurses was inevitable.

Regarding the PS Collegium, Eurydice Pereira spoke about the measures taken by the previous government, such as counting points that allowed “18 thousand nurses to immediately see that the situation has been resolved” and with an annual financial impact of about 80 million euros.

The socialist parliamentarian also noted that there are other issues that require legislative changes and on which “the PS is ready to work,” recalling that Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos “expressed his readiness to conclude an agreement with the Prime Minister” for decisions on issues on which there is political consensus.

In this Wednesday’s vote, three bills from BE, PAN and Livre on public reimbursement of food products intended for outpatients were also rejected, with PSD, PS and CDS-PP voting against.