STA, 15 February - Trade unions representing workers in health and social care maintain they will go on strike on Wednesday, as talks with the government on their strike demands, including a pay rise, have failed to make any meaningful progress, the unions told the STA.
The trade unions announced the strike in late January, saying the government had failed to resume talks by the agreed deadline, and they insist on it after the latest round of talks with Health Ministry representatives, as they believe the government has failed to resolve the situation.
The negotiations were held behind closed doors for several hours. On top of the same pay rise that the government endorsed for doctors and dentists, the unions' demands also include an improvement in working conditions.
"Today, as has been the case since the strike was announced, the trade unions' side has been striving to reach an agreement that would prevent Wednesday's strike," Irena Ilešič Čujovič, the head of the union of health and social care staff, told the press after today's talks.
She said that the trade unions had made very valid and specific proposals, and that they had also tried to explain their arguments for the strike agreement to the government's negotiating team today.
The trade unions were expecting a counter-proposal from the government that would show it is interested in resolving their strike demands.
"However, we're sad to note that the government has not reached out when it comes to the very minimum demands that the (...) trade unions had, so no agreement has been reached, and tomorrow the announced strike in healthcare and social care will be carried out," she added.
The government did endorse the negotiating positions on the matter, but the unions have expressed their disappointment over them, and the situation was exacerbated by negotiations with doctors and dentists, with whom the government had agreed to raise their salaries by six pay grades, some even by seven.
At the end of today's negotiations, the trade unions and the government reached an agreement on ensuring a minimum working process during the strike to safeguard the health and lives of Slovenian citizens.
The strike will include the cancellation of all non-emergency health services and the closure of pharmacies between 10am and 4pm, with the exception of those on call.
Public broadcaster RTV Slovenija meanwhile reported that the doctors' and dentists' trade union Fides held a meeting today to discuss the developments.
Fides has recently criticised Health Minister Janez Poklukar for, it said, rushing to put out the fire with pre-election "candies" instead of specific solutions that he had the opportunity to implement, meaning a pay rise for doctors and dentists.
This came after the Constitutional Court last week stayed, pending its final decision, the implementation of a provision in the latest Covid relief law that would raise the pay ceiling in the single public sector wage system only to the benefit of doctors and dentists.
According to unofficial sources of RTV Slovenija, Fides is not in favour of announcing a strike, but will insist on doctors and dentists exiting the single pay system.
Ilešič Čujovič said that the talks had taken into account the new situation following the court's decision with the trade unions representing workers in health and social care requesting that the further negotiations be concluded by 4 March. In an agreement reached in November, this deadline was set for 24 April, when the general election is due.
"We think that three weeks should be enough time to diagnose the problems that we are all aware of," she added.
Health Minister Janez Poklukar said that he saw no reasons for the strike, as eventually the issue had been raised over the changing of deadlines in an agreement that had already been reached last year.
"If we make some agreements, then it is usually fair for all of us to stick to them," the minister said, while calling the strike announcement a "legitimate tool of the trade unions" and regretting the decision.
Poklukar also regretted that the starting points for talks had not been prepared in time, while noting that the starting points adopted at the end of January were a good basis for negotiations and provided for broad dialogue and seeking of consensus.
Labour Minister Janez Cigler Kralj, who is also in charge of social affairs, said that the strike was irresponsible and unjustified and that the government was still willing to talk.
He noted that last November, the government had agreed with representative social care trade unions for a wage increase of between two and four brackets, and added that investing in employees, infrastructure and long-term care programmes remained the ministry's priorities.
The Association of Social Institutions of Slovenia meanwhile expressed support for the strike demands, noting that the existing standards and norms were outdated, as they had not been changed for decades, and they no longer meet the needs of beneficiaries.
Responding to the planned strike, the UKC Ljubljana medical centre said that after two years of the coronavirus epidemic, it was not possible to delay medical treatment without detrimental consequences for patients.
Therefore, scheduled examinations, treatments and operations are not to be postponed at the country's largest hospital in the wake of the strike. The UKC Ljubljana management added, though, that it respected the right of employees to strike.
