Several hundred representatives of the Federation of Sanitary Solidarity are expected to protest in front of the Ministry of Labor on Thursday, after the union has already notified the government of its intention to initiate a general strike. Sanitas trade union activists will also protest in front of the Ministry of Health on Thursday. Both major union federations are threatening to launch a general strike in February.

Representatives of the Federation of Health Solidarity reported that on Thursday, starting at 10:00, more than 300 representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions are expected to attend a protest near the Ministry of Labor.

For their part, representatives of the Sanitas federation will protest on Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in front of the Ministry of Health building.

Unionists from Sanitas also recently protested outside the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance.

“Sanitas” and “Sanitary Solidarity” threaten to declare a general strike

The Federation of Sanitary Solidarity notified the Government of its intention to start a strike “against the socio-economic policy of the Government at the level of the health care sector”: “The notice is based on the violation of the provisions and principles established by the Collective Labor Agreement at the level of the health care sector through the adoption of GEO No. 115/2023,” Health Solidarity said Wednesday in a press release cited by News.ro.

According to trade union activists, the Government has 10 days not to announce a strike at the level of this industry: “As a result of the Notice, the law obliges the Government to negotiate with the Federation of Sanitary Solidarity (which it demonstratively avoided in order to try to terminate the agreement with another representative trade union federation) and post this notice on the official website. After the end of 10 days, we can announce a general strike in the field of healthcare, the decision in this sense depends on the position of the Government during the negotiations and analysis of possibilities”, – said the representatives of the Federation of Sanitary Solidarity. showed

Trade unionists have also put forward their demands, which, first of all, are aimed at granting rights to ensure the continuity of the provision of medical services. According to the trade unionists, the rights to wages provided for by Law No. 100 do not include the right to wages. 153/2017:

• Reporting on all increases in the basic salary of all categories of employees.

• Calculation of the basic salary by correlation of the rating factor with the minimum wage per economy/gross per country, guaranteed in payment

• Calculation of financial support taking into account the minimum wage in the economy.

• Payment for on-call work based on the basic hourly rate.

• Issuance of meals and vacation tickets for all professional categories.

• Adoption of a new law on wages in a negotiated form.

“This set of demands is part of the general demands of the entire protest, agreed by the two representative federations at the sectoral level, the aggregate of the rights not granted corresponds to an average increase in wage incomes of at least 30%. These requests are in addition to those for an increase in basic salaries of at least 25%, for measures aimed at improving the quality of working life and those for annexes to the sectoral collective agreement, which must be met,” the trade said. . trade unions that collected signatures for the start of a general strike between December 18 and January 18.

Rafila: We are close to an agreement with the trade unions

Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said Thursday morning that most of Sanitas’ salary claims would be resolved “with certainty” and that the two sides were “close to reaching an agreement.”

“We will talk to the unions from Sanitas. We talked almost every day. We are close to reaching an agreement. They had all the support of the government, Prime Minister Marcel Čolaka, and most of their salary claims will certainly be resolved,” said Rafila, who attended a press conference at the Marius Nasta Institute, according to Agerpres.

The Minister of Health says that there are discrepancies in the remuneration of the staff who work in hospitals: “First of all, I personally believe and came to the same conclusion as they: discrepancies in the remuneration of the staff who work in hospitals. There are TESA staff or other types of staff who have very low salaries. We need to find a solution for them and then a general pay rise, if possible, based on professional performance.”