In Portugal, a simultaneous strike by doctors and nurses is particularly well-followed. The demands revolve around salary increases. This 48-hour movement began on Tuesday, September 24, as difficult discussions are about to begin for the adoption of the 2025 budget.
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With our correspondent in Lisbon, Marie-Line Darcy
Doctors and nurses on strike at the same time, this is unprecedented in Portugal. But this is more a coincidence of the calendar than the result of a concerted movement. Nevertheless, the impact was real, Tuesday, September 24, the first day of this 48-hour movement. 31,000 doctors from the National Health Service joined the movement, causing the cancellation of thousands of non-urgent consultations and operations.
The second day of the strike promises to be just as well attended. According to the FNAM, the main doctors’ union, the mobilization corresponds to what was expected, given the great and widespread discontent. On the nurses’ side, the mobilization is nuanced, insofar as five unions in this sector have negotiated and obtained a catch-up of salaries. An amount of 300 euros per month will be paid gradually until 2027.
State ordered to pay arrears
But for the main union in the profession, the SEP, this is a fool’s bargain, with the State owing nurses a lot of salary arrears for the years 2018 to 2022. The account is not there, claims this union which has maintained the protest movement. Very strongly contested, the Minister of Health promised the start of negotiations on a collective labor agreement in January 2025. A similar movement had already occurred last year..
Since coming to power following early legislative elections last March, the new moderate right-wing minority government has had to respond to the demands of several categories of civil servants. The executive of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has thus reached compromises with teachers, clerks and then the police.
The Iberian country risks a ” political and economic crisis “If the government and the socialist opposition do not reach an agreement to adopt the state budget for 2025, warned President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
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