Opposition unites to approve bill on nurses’ careers – Politics

A Livre bill on nurses’ careers was approved this Wednesday in parliament, with votes in favor from almost the entire opposition and against from the parties that support the Government, PSD and CDS-PP.

At issue is the legislative initiative presented by the Livre bench which provides for the elimination of intermediate remuneration positions and salary parity between the nursing career and the higher technical career in public administration, approved with votes in favor of PS, Chega, BE, PCP, Livre and PAN, abstention from the Liberal Initiative and against only the PSD and CDS-PP benches.

In the votes this Wednesday, four other bills and three draft resolutions were rejected — the latter without the force of law — on the professional and remunerative development of nurses authored by BE, PAN, PCP, Chega and Livre.

In the debate that took place on Tuesday, several opposition parties defended increasing nurses’ salaries and career progression, with the PSD bench referring this issue to negotiations between the Government and the unions that begin on Friday .

These positions were expressed in the debate on the petition presented by the Associação Sindical Portuguesa dos Enfermeiros, with more than 11 thousand signatures, which called for the unfreezing of careers and performance evaluation for nurses in mainland Portugal in the same way as that applied to their colleagues in Madeira. .

In her intervention, PSD deputy, Ana Oliveira, highlighted that it was “fundamental to correct marked inequalities” during socialist governance and recalled that, later this week, the Ministry of Health “will begin dialogue” with health unions.

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

Despite recognizing that there were valid foundations in many of the legislative proposals that were presented, Ana Oliveira considered that, however, their development did not appear to be “opportune”, claiming that a negotiation process between the Government and nurses was imminent.

For the PS bench, Eurídice Pereira highlighted the measures implemented by the previous Government, such as counting points, which allowed “18 thousand nurses to see the situation resolved at once” and with an annual financial impact of around 80 million euros.

The socialist parliamentarian also considered that there are other matters that involve legislative changes and for which the “PS is available to work”, recalling that the secretary general Pedro Nuno Santos “expressed availability with the prime minister to build an agreement” for solutions on matters on which there is political consensus.

In the votes this Wednesday, three bills from BE, PAN and Livre for State reimbursement of nutritional products intended for outpatients were also rejected, with PSD, PS and CDS-PP voting against.