The Sanitas Federation threatens to block hospitals and report to the European Commission if the Ministry of Labor does not accept the new package of proposals for the wage law. The trade unionists complain that the medical assistants are “badly placed in the grid, like in 1953”, and the negotiations with the authorities were conducted mostly in the absence of the Minister of Health and under the pressure of a limited budget.
Particular attention is directed to the medical assistant, who represents the largest category of employees in the health system, but who has been constantly disadvantaged, as Răzvan Gae, the vice-president of the Sanitas Trade Union Federation, explained to “Adevărul”.
“Also, Sanitas proposes to reintroduce into the law some forgotten or omitted categories, such as gastroenterology, internal medicine, cardiology, the preparation of cytostatic products (which are carcinogenic and reprotoxic) and the growth for sterilization, which involve toxic substances for breathing”said Răzvan Gae, vice-president of the Sanitas Trade Union Federation.
In the event that the demands are not met, the trade union federation has announced that it will start legal proceedings in successive stages.
“If the demands are not met, Sanitas will initiate legal procedures: first a two-hour warning strike, then, if it is not resolved, a general strike. In parallel, we will notify the European Commission, through the affiliated European unions, warning that the dialogue was only a facade”explained Răzvan Gae.
Trade unionist: “Most of the negotiations took place without the Minister of Health”
Regarding the dialogue with the authorities, the union leader signaled a reduced openness on the part of the Ministry of Health, where most of the negotiations took place in the absence of the minister. At the Ministry of Labour, the situation is different only in appearance.
“So far, the opening from the Ministry of Health has been weak. Most of the negotiations took place without a minister, and at the Ministry of Labor there was only a verbal opening, but they were told that they had to fit into a budget of 8 billion lei. Of this amount, if most of it is allocated to doctors’ raises, less than half remains for the rest of the staff”stated Răzvan Gae.
The vice-president of Sanitas emphasized that the health system is not limited to the medical corps, but includes dozens of other categories of personnel, and the positioning of medical assistants in the salary scale would be profoundly unfair.
“The healthcare system is not exclusively made up of doctors – from the porter to the doctor there are 50-60 categories of staff – and the nurses are poorly placed in the grid, similar to the 1953 grid. The attempts in 2024 (no increase in the basic salary by 500 lei and a 100 lei increase multiplied by three weekend increments) were not enough. In the OECD countries and in the European Union, the assistant medical has a basic salary at a percentage of 45-55% compared to that of the doctor”concluded Răzvan Gae, vice-president of the Sanitas Trade Union Federation.
