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Tag: nurses
Forcing nurses to sign the amendments to the contracts or new contracts, which ascribe them the professional activities out of their classification, is unethical and in conflict with the Directive of EU Parliament and Committee on Recognition of Professional Classifications. This is stated in the supporting statement for Slovak nurses made by General Secretary of the European Federation of Nurses, Paul de Raeve. Such practices for circumventing of the act on minimum wage claims of nurses should be according to him monitored by European Union, including the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.
Radiologists from Trstená have in practice shown the errors of the law, which guaranteed the higher salaries for nurses, but did not consider other healthcare professionals. All seven laboratory employees from radiology department in this hospital gave the notice. Without them hospital had to stop the operations, X-ray and CT examinations. After a week of negotiations they have withdrawn their notices without the promise of higher salaries. Representative of radiologists, Ernest Urban, says that by this radical step they did not want to cripple the operation of the hospital, but only wanted to draw an attention to the salary discrimination.
Children's Faculty Hospital with Polyclinic in Banská Bystrica will not use the current stoppage of the force of act on minimum wage claims of nurses and will not change the wages of its nurses. This year's increasing of wages is integrated into the contracts of employees and thus they would have to agree with that. Statutory increasing of wages of healthcare professionals has led to the indebtedness of this hospital.
According to the former Minister of Health, Ivan Uhliarik, it is unbelievable, what has happened in the case of act on minimum wage claims of nurses and midwives. Nurses according to him deserve higher salaries, act was approved by 141 members of Parliament and afterwards the former President of Slovak Medical Chamber and current adviser of Prime Minister, Milan Dragula, has proposed to the General Prosecutor to be turned to Constitutional Court. Uhliarik declared that he fully supports the protest of nurses.
Nurses are asking the members of Parliament and Government for crisis scenario for the case, if the Constitutional Court declared the act on their wages as unconstitutional or would decide on this legal standard for too long. This requirement was today interpreted on the meeting of Parliamentary Health Committee by the President of the Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives, Viliam Záborský. Representatives of nurses are also asking for immediate legislation measures, which will stop the employers by dividing of the duties of nurses to nurses and administrative stuff.
Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives has on Monday turned to the Chairman of the Parliament Pavol Paška. They asked him for a cooperation and coordination of all activities connected with the proceedings on the Constitutional Court. As the Chamber is not a participant of the proceeding, it offered Paška the legal and technical cooperation. According to her Presiden, Chamber wants the act on minimum wage claims of nurses to be considered as soon as possible and adjudicated as valid and in accordance with the Constitution.
President of the Association of Hospitals in Slovakia, Marián Petko, plans to propose that hospitals should not decrease the salaries of nurses. Petko will promote and call on hospitals that even after the decision of the court some increasing of salaries of nurses will remain. According to him, it is logic, as the € 50 million reserve was approved and hospitals has already conclude the contracts with insurance companies. He noted that insurance companies gave a public promise to Minister of Health, that this money will be used for adjustment of salaries of doctors and nurses.
Nurses are planning to organize an event to protest against the decision of Constitutional Court, which has stopped the force of the act ensuring them increasing of wages from April. According to the President of Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives, Viliam Záborský, this should be the symbol that nurses are starting again from the beginning. Nurses, according to him, still prefer the decent form of bargaining, but in the future they do not exclude anything.
Private doctors, who increased the salaries of nurses and enshrined it into their contracts, will not cancel them for now. According to the President of the Association of Private Doctors, Ladislav Pásztor, the decision of Constitutional Court is relevant for those, who have not increased the salaries of nurses until now and thus do not have to. As he noted, for now he does not know the exact wording of the decision. So he does not know, whether the Constitutional Court objected to the benefit of one group of healthcare professionals at the expense of others or that the money were not covered by state budget.
Nurses are considering the protesting marches, mass work stoppage or notices. This way they want to react to the decision of Constitutional Court, which suspended the force of the act increasing the salaries of nurses. Initiative to the Constitutional Court was submitted by Slovak Medical Chamber. Council of the Trade union of nurses, which will today negotiate in Bratislava, will finally decide on the reaction to the decision of the Constitutional Court.
