By: C. R.
After Tuesday’s warning strike, today begins the strike of doctors and dentists, which will last until further notice or the conclusion of a strike agreement. The government had again called on Fides on Sunday to stop the strike activities and resume negotiations. However, Fides is convinced that the government is evading the issue. Negotiations will continue today at 12 o’clock.
The main reason for the doctors’ strike, announced by Fides on December 18th last year, is the non-fulfilment of government commitments from already signed agreements. This concerns the delay in forming the pay structure for healthcare, which should regulate the specifics of the work of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, with their work and the demands of healthcare professions adjusted to the pay scale. They also demand the elimination of salary imbalances that arose after the intervention in the salary system, where salaries increased for young doctors, but not as much for older ones.
“We do not actually want strikes and see them as a last resort. We believe that the government is responsible for the strike because it has not fulfilled its signed and confirmed commitments,” said Ana Lina Vodušek, a member of the strike committee of the union, on Sunday. According to her, negotiations involve government evasion to the detriment of patients. She emphasised that the government’s proposal for a strike agreement does not address the main strike demand – the establishment of a healthcare system for everyone.
During the strike, public healthcare services will only cover those that, if omitted, would lead to irreversible severe health damage or death in a short period. They will perform non-urgent services for pregnant women, children, and the elderly. For most healthcare services, the schedule will be the same as on public holidays.
Meetings of employees will take place in healthcare institutions across the country today. In General Hospital Novo mesto, the meeting will be at 7:30 am, in General Hospitals Ptuj, Jesenice, Slovenj Gradec, and Murska Sobota at 8 am, at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, and in General Hospital Nova Gorica at 8:30 am, in General Hospital Celje at 10 am, and in the Health Centre Koper at 1 pm, as explained by Fides for the STA.
The day before the announced start of the strike by doctors and dentists, the government called on the Fides union to stop strike activities and continue efforts to find a compromise in negotiations with the government negotiating side. The Ministry of Health emphasised that the government respects the signed commitments from the strike agreement. “By initiating separate negotiations with the Fides union, the government respects the signed commitments from the strike agreement signed in January 2023. Our central concern is the patients, as we want them to reach a doctor when they need one,” said the Ministry of Health yesterday.
They added that understanding Fides’ decision to continue the strike is all the more difficult, as the government negotiating group has done everything to prevent it. “We approached Fides with a very constructive and reasonable proposal to resolve the strike demands,” they assure at the ministry. They offered Fides to sign a strike agreement that offers real solutions within the framework of a unified pay system and does not undermine the agreement, as raising salaries for only one salary group within the pay system would introduce additional imbalances, even within the professional group of doctors. “We once again call on the Fides union to stop strike activities and continue efforts to find a compromise in negotiations together with the government negotiating side. In the negotiating process, we must put people at the forefront,” they concluded.