One of the supported institutions was Comunidade Vida e Paz, an organization that supports homeless people. They announced today in a statement that they received more than 18,000 euros from nurses who organized the “surgical strike” in 2018, a protest that ended with 240,000 euros of unused funds, according to figures released at the time.
“The Surgical Strike Group, composed of five nurses who organized a crowdfunding action to support colleagues who went on strike to fight for better conditions, fulfilled the commitment made from the beginning to donate the remaining amount to associations that provide support to the population. Comunidade Vida e Paz was one of the chosen institutions and received a total of 18,256.30 euros,” the institution announced.
The surgical strike was implemented in 2018 by a group of five nurses who demanded career advancement. The strike, which took place when Marta Temido was Minister of Health, targeted scheduled surgeries and forced the postponement of thousands of operations.
The strike was called by two union structures, but initially, the form of protest came from a nurses’ movement that launched a public fund, which collected a total of about 750,000 euros to compensate colleagues who joined the work stoppage. It took place in two phases, one at the end of 2018 (more than 350,000 euros) and another in February 2019 (more than 400,000), when the Government decreed a civil requisition of nurses in operating rooms.
At the time, in 2019, it was announced that more than 240,000 euros remained from the total received (with no mention of whether commissions were deducted or not).
This month, in a statement, the nurses involved recalled the process from almost six years ago and the commitment that the remaining money would be donated to institutions “that played an active role in society and were particularly relevant for the benefit of the Portuguese.”
“We consider that the time has come to fulfill the initial assumption,” they say, explaining that 182,563.07 euros remained, which were distributed equally among 10 institutions.
In addition to Comunidade Vida e Paz, the beneficiaries included UNICEF, APAV, Operação Nariz Vermelho, Chão de Meninos, Somos nós, Kastelo, Aldeias SOS, Liga Portuguesa contra o Cancro, and Acreditar.
The five nurses also say that it was agreed that the application of the money would revert only to the beneficiaries of the associations, and that the delivery of the money is the last act of the Surgical Strike movement.
