Healthcare, social assistance employees submit memorandum to gov't

Healthcare and social assistance workers, dressed in protective gear, submitted a memorandum to the government on Wednesday morning, demanding, among other things, an increase in the pay bonuses for extremely dangerous conditions to combat epidemics and pay to the level of year 2022 for all healthcare workers.

According to the document posted on Facebook by the Sanitas Union of the Bucharest Emergency Clinical Hospital, the protesters demand the resumption of institutional social dialogue at all levels, the issuance of an order to declare the epidemic at national level, granting the bonus for extremely dangerous conditions to fight the epidemic (55% -85 %) for all employees working with Covid-19 patients and suspects, the adaptation of working conditions to the current epidemiological situation, namely establishing job descriptions specific to the departments that directly treat Covid-19 patients, reducing the work hours adjusted to the recovery of staff wearing the protective equipment specific to the pathology and the provision of adequate and sufficient protective equipment, as well as the identification of some forms of recovery of the work capacity of the healthcare and social assistance employees, according to the petition.

They also ask the government to increase pay to the level of the year 2022 for all healthcare workers, as a natural recognition of the effort and merits of the workers, recalculating all bonuses against the current basic pay, providing the risk incentive to all healthcare workers working during this period, identifying solutions for correcting and implementing the pay legislation for social assistance workers.

A delegation of representatives of the Sanitas Federation was invited to a first discussion with Prime Minister Ludovic Orban from 11:30hrs.