The National Union of Nurses (SNE) begins a 24-hour strike this Monday at 8:00 a.m. due to the “lack of response and unavailability of the Minister of Health to start a negotiation process” with the professionals.
In a statement, the SNE accused the Government of not responding to the “serious problems that affect patients” or “to the calls of the President of the Republic for the Minister of Health to meet with the unions in the sector.”
For this reason, “given the manifest lack of response and unavailability of the Minister of Health to begin a negotiation process with the nurses,” the SNE called for a national strike, “to which new forms of struggle will be added.”.
The nurses demand “the negotiation of a Global Collective Agreement applicable to nurses and the review of the salary table.”
The SNE states that “the majority of nurses’ demands are related to the defense of the quality of nursing and patients’ access to timely and quality health care,” proposing “decent working conditions, planning and organization of public service and a correct human resources management policy”, with “greater response capacity, from primary health care, through hospital admissions, emergency services, operating rooms and the national network of integrated continuing care ”.
The SNE asks nurses to “report all situations of potential clinical safety failure that could cause harm or cost them their lives,” advising them to submit “report statements to the Order of Nurses” and recommending that they not provide services. . in conditions of lack of clinical safety, in accordance with their ethical standards.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, said that the Government is examining the conditions to return to negotiating with the medical unions, recognizing that, despite being at full capacity, “it cannot look to the future as before the political crisis. ”.
On Tuesday of last week, the government official said he was closing the pending files and received on Tuesday the Portuguese Union of Nurses (SEP) about the reclassification of nursing careers, a matter that, according to the government, was already in the discussion. final phase. negotiations phase.
Source: Observadora
