(26 November 2013) EPSU and its Executive Committee members send their solidarity greetings to Sanitas and the other health trade unions that are supporting the warning strike on 25 November and general strike on 28 November. EPSU fully supports the action in the face of the massive challenges facing the Romanian health sector.
With as many 3000 doctors and thousands more nurses emigrating each year, the Romanian health service is facing a major crisis. When salaries were already so low, this situation was worsened with the pay cuts imposed in 2009. Although workers have seen most of these cuts restored this has still not been enough to tackle the serious problem of low pay or attract back many of the qualified health workers who have left in recent years.
The ability of the unions to protect their members has also been seriously undermined by changes to the labour code and the law on social dialogue. The International Labour Organisation has been highly critical of these changes and called on the Romanian government to repeal the measures which make it very difficult for unions to organise and negotiate collective agreements.
The quality of care in the Romanian health service cannot be guaranteed when so many workers are leaving and those left are having to work harder and longer on low levels of pay. The quality of care also depends on the level of investment in the service that’s why EPSU also supports the unions’ call for increased expenditure on health and maintenance of the current organisational structure which the unions believe is a better guarantee of quality than the restructuring that is taking place.
EPSU hopes that the planned action is widely supported across Romania and that the health unions secure their key demands which will not only benefit their members but all the citizens who deserve a better quality health service.
- Log in to post comments