Nurses at Lisbon’s health centers are holding a one-day strike today to demand better pay and career progression, and at the end of the morning they will deliver a motion to the Ministry of Health.
Called by the Portuguese Nurses’ Union (SEP), the strike will take place in the morning and afternoon shifts, between 08:00 and 24:00, covering the health centers of the Local Health Units of Amadora/Sintra, Estuário do Tejo, Loures-Odivelas, Santa Maria, São José and Lisboa Ocidental.
According to the union, with this strike, Lisbon’s primary health care nurses want to demand that their points be counted for the purposes of career progression, with up-to-date and retroactive payment since 2018.
They also demand the operationalization of the so-called “career accelerator”, the transition to the category of specialist nurse of all the professionals who did not transition due to their “legitimate exercise of their maternity rights”, as well as the effective attachment of all the nurses who are currently in a precarious situation.
In a statement, the SEP also deplored the “lack of reinforcement and investment” in the National Health Service and primary care in the emergency plan for the sector recently approved by the government, a document it considers to be centered “on the response to illness and the strong involvement of private health groups”.
The Lisbon nurses are holding this strike a day after the SEP met with the Ministry of Health, with the two parties reaching an agreement on the negotiating protocol, i.e. the terms and issues to be negotiated.
A motion with the demands is due to be delivered to the Ministry of Health at 11:30.
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