Nurses “slightly” optimistic about the Government’s openness to solving problems | Health

The platform that includes five nurses’ unions emerged “slightly optimistic” from the meeting it had, this Friday, with the Minister of Health. Since there was “openness” on the part of the minister to “try to solve the problems that affect nursing” , said Fernando Parreira, from the Independent Union of Nursing Professionals (SIPE). The Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP) will maintain the strike that is already scheduled for May 10th.

Throughout the day, the Minister of Health will meet with the unions representing nurses and ends the agenda with a hearing of the pharmacists’ union.

The structure – which includes, in addition to SIPE, the Nurses Union, the Democratic Union of Nurses of Portugal, the Independent Union of All United Nurses and the National Union of Nurses – had scheduled five days of strike, which were canceled after they had been contacted by the Ministry of Health to begin the negotiation process.

The next meeting will be scheduled until May 27th, said the SIPE representative, noting that by this date they will send all demands so that they can be included in the negotiation program that they will negotiate with the Government. And they want to “see them negotiated in a short period of time”.

On the list of “main” topics on which the platform wants to start talking to the Government are “the review of the salary scale, a collective work agreement – ​​it is the only class in the SNS that does not have one –, recognizing the risk and hardship through retirement compensation, among others”, said Fernando Parreira.

The person responsible recalled that there are some situations that are in the claims book that can be “resolved quickly”. “There is already legislation for them to be implemented, it is enough for the Ministry of Health to issue guidelines for them to be complied with,” he said, giving the example of issues related to counting time for career progression.

Asked about the minister’s availability to negotiate, highlighted by the medical unions, who were the first to be received this morning, Fernando Parreira said he left the meeting with the same feeling. “This minister looked us in the eye and looked at us as partners and not as adversaries. That’s what happened in other negotiations, we were seen as an adversary. This cannot happen,” he stated.

SEP maintains strike on May 10th

Less optimistic was the SEP, which will maintain the national strike already scheduled for May 10, International Nurses’ Day. A meeting is also scheduled at 11 am, in front of Campo Pequeno, in Lisbon. The minister, said the person in charge, “did not undertake to negotiate these topics in a negotiation protocol until the 10th of May, which pushes us to carry out this strike”.

Upon leaving the meeting, in statements on television, José Carlos Martins regretted that the Ministry of Health had not committed to negotiating issues related to the counting of points, “from the outset, retrospectives and correction of injustices”, changes to the career, such as valorization of the salary scale, compensation for the risk and hardship of the profession, “through earlier retirement”.

But there are also other issues that are part of the list of demands that they submitted to the Minister of Health, such as the issue of regularizing precarious employment relationships and hiring more nurses.

Even so, José Carlos Martins said, in statements cited by Lusa, that the ministry has “the desire to continue negotiating to establish the existing matters in a negotiation protocol”. But “it is not compatible with the urgency that nurses have.” “No prospect of a new meeting was on the table until May 10th.”