The Coordination Council of the 'Solidaritatea Sanitara' Federation of Romania, which gathered on Monday, decided to notify the Government of its intention to declare a general strike in the healthcare sector, in response to the economic and social policies promoted by the Executive.
'The decision to call a general strike was triggered by the draft law adopted by the Government on reducing salary expenditure by 10%, a measure that would lead to the loss of salary-related rights stipulated in the sector-level collective labour agreement for healthcare. The strike is further justified by the extensive series of salary losses suffered by healthcare employees since last year, which risk leading, by the end of this year, to a reduction in real salary of approximately 30%,' the federation's representatives said in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday.
According to the same source, other factors causing dissatisfaction among trade union members include inflation, which led to a decrease in real wages of around 10% last year alone, with at least a further 5% expected to be added this year; the elimination of the meal allowance at the beginning of this year for a large proportion of healthcare workers, and the cuts operated in the funding of salary-related supplements, given that the intention to reduce the level of funding for such supplements in public hospitals would negatively affect around 162,000 employees in approximately 312 hospitals.
Representatives of the 'Solidaritatea Sanitara' Federation of Romania warn that if talks with the Government do not result in healthcare employees being exempted from the 10% reduction in salary expenditure, or if the Executive fails to comply with its legal obligation to engage in social dialogue, trade union actions will continue in stages as follows: the launch of a signature-gathering campaign for a strike in all public healthcare units nationwide; the declaration of a general strike following the adoption of the normative act; and the actual commencement of the strike within the timeframe provided by law.
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