Portuguese Nurses Union maintains strike after meeting with Minister of Health – Portugal

“The Ministry of Health did not make a commitment today that, by May 10th, the day of the national nurses’ strike, it would establish all the matters to be negotiated, the topics to be negotiated and the negotiating agenda”, said the president of the SEP, José Carlos Martins, outside the Ministry of Health, in Lisbon.

The SEP scheduled a national strike for May 10th, with a rally at 11 am in Campo Pequeno, in Lisbon.

“The problems are so well-known and so serious, there are so many injustices and so much discrimination, that nurses want answers much sooner”, he highlighted.

According to José Carlos Martins, the Ministry of Health and the Government “did not commit to negotiating”, among other things, the counting of points and the change to the nursing career.

“He did not undertake to negotiate this, to fix these topics, in a negotiating protocol, until May 10th, which pushes us to carry out this strike”, he stressed.

The Minister of Health meets today for the first time with the unions representing doctors, nurses and pharmacists, beginning the salary negotiations demanded by the union structures.