The government stops negotiations with doctors’ unions

The Presidential Minister said this Thursday that negotiations between the government and doctors’ unions have ended because union negotiations, consideration and approval of new professions are not in line with the managerial government.

“The government has completed negotiations with medical unions, concluding an agreement with one of the unions, namely SIM [Sindicato Independente dos Médicos] and not with Fnam [Federação Nacional dos Médicos]”, suggesting precisely that it was a temporary agreement, possible in the calendar of this government,” said Mariana Vieira da Silva at a press conference at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, which took place in Porto and which was the last with the executive in full functionality.

The minister stressed that union negotiations, career reviews and the approval of new positions “obviously” did not fit within the framework of managerial government.

And he added: “I would like to confirm once again that the agreement we reached with SIM was immediately translated into a diploma, which we approved last week in the Council of Ministers and which is currently with the President of the Republic for his assessment.”

According to Mariana Vieira da Silva, the agreement includes very significant salary increases and “very important” mechanisms for reorganizing the National Health Service (NHS).

On November 28, the government reached a “temporary agreement” with the Independent Doctors’ Union on a salary increase in January 2024 and concluded negotiations.

The announcement was made in a statement from the Ministry of Health after a new round of negotiations with unions, during which Fnam refused to accept the agreement.

The agreement to review NHS doctors’ pay scales includes increases of 14.6% for all 40-hour assistants, 12.9% for postgraduate assistants and 10.9% for senior postgraduate assistants.