Other factors causing discontent among unionists include:
– Inflation, which has reduced real wages by about 10% last year alone and is expected to increase by at least 5% this year;
– the abolition of the food allowance, which occurred earlier this year for a large proportion of health workers;
– the reduction in funding for wage supplements, given that the intention to reduce the level of funding for wage supplements for public hospitals will negatively affect about 162,000 employees from about 312 hospitals.
Representatives of the Solidaritatea Sanitară Federation in Romania warn that if negotiations with the government do not result in the exemption of health workers from the 10% cut in wage costs, or if the executive does not honor its legal obligation for social dialogue, the union’s actions will continue in stages, as follows:
– Beginning the collection of signatures for a strike in all public health facilities in the country;
– declaring a general strike after the adoption of the regulatory act;
– the actual start of the strike within the time limits established by law.
Romania has about 3.7 doctors per 1000 inhabitants, which is below the EU average (4.3 doctors). This puts the country among the least endowed with medical personnel in the EU. The average salary of a doctor is, in translation, about 2,300 euros.
