Here’s the English translation of the article:
“We know there will be a salary increase for nurses, phased over the next three years, and therefore, we await this agreement that was reached with some expectation,” said Luís Filipe Barreira, emphasizing that “it brings some encouragement to nurses,” whose salary scale hasn’t been updated for about 15 years.
Luís Filipe Barreira spoke to journalists in Funchal, on the sidelines of the ceremony binding 95 new nurses to the profession in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, where he commented on the strike called by the Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP) that began at 8:00 am today and extends until midnight on Wednesday.
“We, as the Order, are always, in essence, on the side of nurses who stand up in the fight for better working conditions, but I would like the focus here to be on this important step that the Ministry of Health has taken,” he said, referring to the agreement with the platform of five unions on various matters relating to career enhancement, including salary tables, with an increase of about 20% until 2027, which will begin to be paid in November this year.
“I think it’s a very important and positive step,” he reinforced, emphasizing that “for more than 15 years, nurses haven’t had this perspective of an improvement in the salary scale.”
The agreement was reached on Monday in a meeting in Lisbon between the Ministry of Health and the Nurses’ Union (SE), the Independent Union of All United Nurses (SITEU), the National Nurses Union (SNE), the Independent Union of Nursing Professionals (SIPENF), and the Democratic Union of Nurses of Portugal (SINDEPOR).
The Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP) did not participate in the meeting and went ahead with the two-day strike.
The president of the Nurses’ Order also highlighted the “extraordinary openness” of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the Ministry of Health, headed by Ana Paula Martins, considering that “they have the sensitivity […] that is necessary at this time” to overcome many of the demands.
“Nurses’ demands are not just centered on the salary scale. There are many more injustices,” said Luís Filipe Barreira, quickly adding that the ministry has already guaranteed that negotiations for a collective labor agreement will begin in January 2025.
“The profession has never had a collective labor agreement, and it was one of the major demands and will allow, in some way, to equalize the conditions of those who have individual employment contracts and those who have public service contracts,” he explained.
The Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP) points to a national strike adherence between 60% and 70% in the morning period, admitting that the agreement between the Ministry of Health and some unions may have harmed the initiative today.
In Madeira, the Regional Secretariat for Health and Civil Protection signaled an adherence of around 70% until 4:00 pm, specifying that of the 700 nurses who were on duty in the public sector, about 480 went on strike.
The Madeira Nurses Union estimated an adherence of over 80% in the region.
In addition to changing the salary scale of the nursing career, valuing all levels of all pay positions, the strike serves to defend the transition to the category of specialist nurse for all nurses who held this title on May 31, 2019.
The SEP also wants the salary repositioning resulting from career transition “to have a translation into salary increase for all nurses” and also demands compensation resulting from the risk and hardship inherent to the profession, namely through “special conditions for retirement” and the valorization of shift work.
As for the counting of points, nurses demand the payment of retroactives since 2018 and the “correction of all relative injustices.”
