The information was provided to Lusa by the spokesperson of the union platform, which met today with the Ministry of Health after receiving the government’s proposal for the first Collective Labor Agreement (ACT) for nurses in the National Health Service at the beginning of September.
“The ministry presented us with a proposal that essentially does not guarantee what nurses want at this moment. What we want is equality between public service contracts and individual work contracts, and this proposal, in itself, does not achieve that,” said Fernando Parreira, who is also the president of the Independent Union of Nursing Professionals (Sipenf).
The union leader expressed his agreement with the government’s proposal to grant one day of vacation for every 10 years of service but warned that this alone is insufficient.
“There’s a day of vacation for every ten years of service, but that’s not enough; we want more,” stated Fernando Parreira, adding that the unions received a commitment from the government to analyze the counterproposal by the next meeting, which will take place in the week following the municipal elections on October 12.
At the end of July, the government and these nursing unions signed a protocol establishing the terms and issues to be reviewed, with negotiations beginning in September, marked by an initial meeting between the two parties.
According to the government, the proposal for a Collective Labor Agreement currently under discussion covers various topics, such as new ways of organizing nurses’ working time, specifically the flexibility of schedules for professionals in the National Health Service.
On Tuesday, during a parliamentary hearing, the Secretary of State for Health Management, Francisco Rocha Gonçalves, emphasized that the executive’s intention is to “value the nursing profession,” but did not anticipate concrete measures, citing ongoing negotiations.
The union platform includes the National Union of Nurses (SNE), Democratic Union of Portuguese Nurses (Sindepor), Union of Nurses (SE), Independent Union of Nursing Professionals (Sipenf), and the Independent Union of All United Nurses (SITEU).
